Mosque prayers suspended at Kolkata airport as access road closed for repairs; Namaz likely from tomorrow
Times of India | 12 July 2026
KOLKATA: Access to the 136-year-old Bankra mosque inside airport’s operational area has been suspended for two days, till Sunday, after airport authorities cited rain damage to the approach road and began urgent repairs. Devotees may resume namaz from Monday if work ends on schedule.
Local resident Sarafat Ali, who prays there, said he learnt of the curbs when he reached the gate around 4am for Fajr namaz.
“The CISF stopped me at the gate and said prayers would not be held due to ‘safeguard’ procedure that is enforced when visibility is poor. Usually, this happens in winter when there is fog. On Saturday, it was slightly overcast and we thought that was the reason for the restriction. But when we went in the afternoon for the Dhuhr namaz, we were again stopped and told that the restriction would continue till Sunday evening as the access road was being repaired,” he said.
Mosque secretary Jamil Ahmad said temporary curbs had been imposed earlier during poor visibility or VVIP movements, but never for an entire day or two days.
“Runway and taxiway repairs have happened before. We have never faced such issue. Let us see what is in store on Monday,” he said, adding that the approach road appeared fine when the bus last ferried devotees back around 8. 30pm on Friday.
North Dum Dum MLA Sourav Sikdar, who met airport officials, police and mosque representatives on Saturday to “ensure there was no law-andorder problem”, reiterated that the mosque should be relocated for aviation safety.
“The airport authority has decided to impose the two-day curb. We believe the mosque has to shift as it poses a serious threat to aviation security,” he said.
Sikdar said devotees entering the high-security operational area are not issued regular security passes.
“An ordinary airport visitor has to provide biometrics, identity proof and obtain apass. But residents of Bankra can enter by showing an Aadhaar card. CISF arranges a bus that takes them deep into the operational area to the mosque. This happens nowhere else,” he said.
He alleged fake Aadhaar and voter cards in Bengal made the system riskier and said police officers at the meeting had also flagged concerns.
The mosque, once surrounded by open land, now stands about 165 metres north of secondary runway and around 150 metres inside airport boundary after airport expansion. The prescribed minimum distance for any structure from a runway is 240 metres.
Officials said the mosque forced the secondary runway’s touchdown point to shift south by 88 metres, leaving 2,832 metres, enough for A320s and Boeing 737s, but not wide-body aircraft such as Boeing 787s and Airbus A330s.
Sikdar said the land belongs to AAI and that relocation talks have resumed. Past efforts by the Centre had been shot down by the Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Mamata Banerjee govts. But since the BJP govt came to office, there has been fresh attempt.