New Delhi, July 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) A row over the relocation of the Bankra mosque inside Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has intensified following its proposed relocation due to security and runway expansion.
While the airport mosque row has turned into a high‑pitched altercation, Kolkata has a long history of shifting religious shrines or deities when the situation demanded, according to earlier reports.
In the latest incident, a highly secure area like an airport is typically a zone of absolute sterile control. Yet, deep inside the operational boundary of the airport, barely 165 metres from the secondary runway, stands the 136‑year‑old mosque, also known as the Gauripur Jama Masjid.
The removal decision has ignited a political and communal debate because it involves safety rules, heritage claims, and timing.
The controversy intensified after a change in state government, with opponents accusing the ruling party of using security as an alleged means to justify a move that previous governments avoided, turning a technical issue into a partisan flashpoint.
The mosque was built in the 1890s when the area was a quiet, rural village. In 1924, the British established the Dum Dum aerodrome on the surrounding land. During major airport expansions in the 1950s and 1960s, the state acquired the surrounding village plots, and the residential settlements were shifted across Jessore Road.
However, the mosque itself was left untouched, gradually becoming entirely enclosed by the high‑security perimeter of a growing international aviation hub, which now reportedly poses a serious threat to runway traffic and creates technical infringements.
Despite earlier warnings, successive administrations refrained from demolishing the structure. Multiple structures in Kolkata are said to have been earlier removed, relocated, or modified for infrastructure development, transit expansion, and public safety. These included unauthorised religious structures built on public roads, pavements, and government land.
Several shrines, regardless of religion, that were causing massive traffic congestion or obstructing civic projects have been removed. In recent times, reports suggest the then Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal in 2022 directed district magistrates of about eight districts to remove unauthorised religious structures from public places.
The respective police authorities were asked to assist the district administrations in implementing the order.
In 2024, then-Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had pulled up those responsible for encroachment on government land. The administration then strongly acted against illegal land encroachment, especially on tracts owned by the state government.
Meanwhile, the massive expansion of Kolkata’s East‑West Metro, particularly the underground part, repeatedly required the relocation of historic and religious items.
Two 250‑year‑old idols, one of Lakshmi and another of Mangalchandi, had to be relocated multiple times to hotels and apartments for safety, before being permanently re‑housed in their devotees’ newly constructed house this month.
Also, during the expansion of Kolkata’s Circular Railway along the Hooghly riverbanks, dozens of decades‑old unauthorised temples, ghat shrines, and mazars (graves) were reportedly cleared to secure the railway tracks.
Similar was the case when road‑widening projects were being carried out on the outskirts of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area.
In the case of the Bankra mosque, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation have long flagged the structural layout as a hazard. Large, wide‑body aircraft apparently cannot execute safe emergency landings when the primary runway is closed due to short usable runway length.
Furthermore, the structure blocks the installation of modern Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), meaning heavy winter fog routinely triggers chaotic flight delays.
Beyond technical aspects, there were other security issues. To facilitate prayers, airport security agencies and airport authorities had to screen local devotees at the outer gate and ferry them by bus directly across active taxiways.
Over time, allowing the general public to access high‑security zones based solely on standard local identity cards became an unacceptable breach, especially in a state close to the international border.
For decades, administrations ranging from the Left Front under Jyoti Basu to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool preferred a policy of cautious deferral. Relocating a century‑old mosque carried a political risk in West Bengal, where minority sentiment is heavily courted for electoral gains.
Past proposals floated in 1995 and 2002 were quietly shelved because no ruling party wanted to trigger allegations of community targeting or risk localised law‑and‑order crises.
This institutional paralysis left the airport administration managing a delicate, daily compromise for decades.
Source: IANS
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