J&K Chief Minister Seeks Alternatives to Srinagar Airport Closure During Peak Tourism Season
Two separate aviation and defence disputes emerged in India on June 12, 2026: Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Defence and Civil Aviation ministers to push back against a planned 15-day closure of Srinagar International Airport in October, while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging a rethink of the proposed greenfield airport on Great Nicobar Island. Abdullah warned the October 1–16 closure for runway resurfacing would damage Kashmir's peak autumn tourism season, and proposed either shortening the closure or temporarily using the Awantipora Air Base as an alternative. Ramesh argued that expanding the existing INS Baaz naval runway would be far less ecologically destructive than clearing pristine forests, turtle nesting beaches, and tribal land for the new Nicobar site.
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah travelled to New Delhi on June 12 to meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, expressing concern that the Phase-3 runway resurfacing closure of Srinagar International Airport — scheduled October 1–16 — falls during the valley's busiest tourism window. Abdullah acknowledged the resurfacing is necessary for safety and respects the IAF's operational assessment, but noted that air services have already been curtailed since April due to earlier phases, compounding the economic strain on tourism, hospitality, handicrafts, and allied livelihoods. He requested the IAF examine whether the final phase could be shortened or phased, and proposed activating Awantipora Air Base for civilian flights if full closure proves unavoidable, citing a successful precedent from September 2010. Separately, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote to Rajnath Singh challenging the government's rejection of his earlier proposal to expand the INS Baaz runway in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as an alternative to a new greenfield airport at Great Nicobar's Gandhi Nagar–Shastri Nagar site. Ramesh outlined seven environmental objections to the new site, including the levelling of two 115-metre forested hills, destruction of 225 acres of protected forest, encroachment on 130 acres of Shompen tribal land, impacts on ICRZ-1A coastal zones with turtle nesting beaches and coral reefs, and the displacement of 234 ex-servicemen families for a third time. He criticised the Defence Ministry for taking over six years to comment on the project — and then only through anonymous briefings — and argued that no serious environmental impact assessment has been conducted for the proposed site. The government has defended the Great Nicobar project as strategically vital for India's maritime interests, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged the project primarily serves a private businessman's commercial interests.
What's missing
For the Srinagar airport dispute, it is unclear whether the IAF or Ministry of Defence has formally responded to Abdullah's proposals, or what the technical constraints are that make October the preferred window for Phase-3 work. For the Great Nicobar dispute, the specific ecological findings cited by anonymous Defence Ministry sources to justify rejecting the INS Baaz expansion are not detailed in either article, making it difficult to independently assess that claim.
What different sources said
- Times of IndiaCenter
'Pristine forests at risk': Jairam Ramesh urges Rajnath Singh to rethink Great Nicobar airport, expand IN
- The HinduCenter
J&K CM raises concern over 15-day closure of Srinagar airport with Defence, Civil Aviation Ministers
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