IAF Air Funnel Zones - Kolkata

The single most important fact for anyone buying land near this base is that Barrackpore Air Force Station and Kolkata's civil airport are two entirely separate aerodromes, each generating its own restricted zone, even though both sit within the same crowded stretch of North 24 Parganas. In June 2025, the Airports Authority of India issued a new directive expanding scrutiny for multi-storied construction from the traditional 11 kilometre funnel zone, which caps buildings at two storeys, out to a new 20 kilometre radius requiring prior AAI approval for high-rise projects.

That directive specifically targets the civil Kolkata airport's approach corridor, and it named municipalities including Bidhannagar, North Dumdum, Madhyamgram, and New Barrackpore. A buyer near Barrackpore Cantonment who only checks against this civil airport notice is checking half the picture, because the military base generates its own separate restricted zone under the same 2015 Rules framework, typically requiring clearance through defence channels rather than the civil AAI process.

The second red flag is the actual height formula, which is precise enough to calculate but easy to misapply. Within the airport funnel, the zone aligned directly with the runway approach and departure paths, permitted height is calculated as 2 percent of the distance from the runway edge.

A structure 1,000 metres from the runway edge, for example, is capped at approximately 20 metres. This formula gives a useful starting estimate, but the exact runway centreline, edge coordinates, and the full Schedule II height table under the 2015 Rules are the only legally binding reference. Estimating a rough distance on a map and applying the 2 percent formula yourself is a reasonable first check, not a substitute for official verification before any construction decision.

The table below sets out how the restriction framework layers across zones near an aerodrome like Barrackpore.

The third red flag is that this restriction covers more than buildings. Under the 2015 Rules, no tree that is likely to grow, or ordinarily grows, taller than the height specified for that zone may be planted either. A buyer planning any kind of orchard, plantation, or even substantial landscaping near the base needs to check the same height table that governs construction, not just assume vegetation falls outside the rule.

The Barrackpore subdivision's extreme urban density means restriction zones here overlap with established, already-built neighbourhoods far more than they would around a rural airfield, and the practical impact varies significantly by exact distance and direction from the runway.

New Barrackpore is the most misunderstood locality in this group. It appears on the AAI's own named list of municipalities affected by the expanded 20 kilometre civil airport scrutiny zone, which makes it easy to assume that notice is the only restriction a buyer there needs to check.

But New Barrackpore's proximity to the military Barrackpore Air Force Station means it can sit inside a second, separately governed restricted zone at the same time. A high-rise project cleared under the civil AAI's digital review process is not automatically cleared against the military base's own funnel zone requirements, and treating one approval as covering both is a genuine risk for any multi-storey development in this specific pocket of North 24 Parganas.

Barrackpore Cantonment itself carries the least ambiguity, precisely because its proximity to the runway is so direct. Land here should be evaluated on the assumption that low-rise development is the realistic ceiling, and any buyer hoping for future high-rise potential needs a considerably more cautious read on this locality than on areas further along the Hooghly corridor toward Titagarh or Khardaha, where distance from the runway centreline starts to meaningfully reduce the applicable height cap under the 2 percent formula.