M B Patil to hold meeting with CM Siddaramaiah on proposed Ballari, Vijayanagara, Koppal airports

Bengaluru: Heavy and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil on Friday told the Legislative Assembly that he would facilitate a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, where MLAs and MPs of Vijayanagara, Ballari and Koppal can discuss the proposed airport for the region.

"I will call all MLAs and MPs from these districts and conduct a meeting with the chief minister. First, we can hand it over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and get an airport built. There, 50% will benefit us and 50% will help Andhra Pradesh. The other option is to have this airport in common for Ballari, Vijayanagara and Koppal.” The meeting is expected to happen before the end of the legislature session (March 27).

Patil was responding to a question by mining baron and Gangavatti MLA Gali Janardhan Reddy about the airport.

"Why is it getting delayed? If we hand over this land to the government of India and ask them to build the airport, they are ready to release Rs 750 crore and build the airport," the Gangavathi MLA asked.

In response, the minister explained that careful consideration was required before proceeding, as many local airports had failed within a few years.

“The Udaan Scheme of the central government will be valid for three years. After that, the airport will be closed. Not just in our state, it’s the same across the country. We don’t know the future of district airports.

Thus, I went with the CM and proposed to the aviation minister to extend Udaan to 5 years. After that, there should be a 50:50 Centre-state sharing for the next 5 years. After 10 years, it comes to a position.”

Patil told Reddy that they had identified two locations around Ballari as potential destinations for the airport. He felt it was interesting since it would be reachable for Ballari, Vijayanagara and Raichur.