IGI Airport's under-construction hospitality area near Mahipalpur has become the centre of a security-related spat between security agencies and airport management Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL).

As per a report in the TOI, Delhi Police sources say that the hotels coming up in the Aerocity are barely 200m away from the main runway and would require security clearance, a process that has reportedly not been followed by DIAL. "I have written to the security head of DIAL, asking for a security clearance certificate for the project. They are yet to respond," said RA Sanjeev, DCP, IGI Airport.

The hospitality sector is coming up in an area of 45 acres and will include hotels, convention centers, restaurants and commercial plazas within the hotel premises. It was divided into 13 asset areas that included projects by five developers - Accor, InterGlobe Hotels, Lemon Tree, Bird Group and Hyatt (Saraf Hotels).

The letter that was sent to the DIAL security team on Wednesday said: "A large number of commercial buildings are coming up in the hospitality area just across the road and boundary of the runway. The minimum distance of the said building from the runway is 115/200m." Even though commercial projects are coming up in the area, DIAL is the land owning agency and should have carried out a security risk assessment of the project before giving permission to build. When another hotel came up about 500m away from the runway there was a huge uproar. Why was the proximity of these hotels to the runway not considered, asked sources.