Sindhudurg airport latest point of friction between BJP, Shiv Sena

The new airport at Chipi-Parule that would bring the picturesque coastal Konkan belt in the aviation map seems to have added to yet another Maharashtra vs Centre issue thanks to arch political rivals Uddhav Thackeray and Narayan Rane.

The Konkan belt is becoming a Shiv Sena vs BJP battleground as the political tussle between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the opposition saffron party ensues.

The Chipi-Parule airport, located off the Mumbai-Goa Highway, would serve the Konkan districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

The bone of contention now is the inauguration date and the person who will inaugurate it.

Last week, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut along with state transport minister Anil Parab and Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai met Thackeray, and held discussions where it was deiced and announced that the airport would be inaugurated on October 7.

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However, earlier this week, Union Minister of Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME), Narayan Rane, met Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and declared October 9 as the inauguration date.

The two inauguration dates announced by Raut and Rane have already hotted up the political scenario.

Last month, it may be recalled that Rane was arrested following his “tight slap" slur against Thackeray, in what led to an explosive political development between the BJP and Shiv Sena.

Rane and his sons Dr Nilesh Rane and Nitesh Rane have been repeatedly targeting Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray, who is the state tourism minister. However, Shiv Sena leaders including chief spokespersons Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant had been returning the fire.

The Chipi-Parule Airport in Vengurla tehsil will be the 14th airport in the state.

Nearly two years ago, the then chief minister and now leader of opposition in Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, and the former civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu had inaugurated the new terminal building and other facilities at the greenfield airport as flights under the UDAN scheme were expected to be launched from there.

As of now, people have to land in the Mumbai, Pune or Goa airports to reach South Konkan. In the beginning, only intra-state flights will be operated from this airport. Later, Chipi Airport will offer inter-state connectivity to Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and a couple of other states.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 520 crore under Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) model, the Chipi-Parule Airport – the first-ever airport constructed in the coastal Konkan region — will initially offer flights to Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur.

The airport has a runway that is 2,500 metres long and 45 metres wide, which can further be extended by 1,000 metres.

The airport can handle up to 400 passengers or two flights per hour with an estimated annual capacity of over a million passengers. The airport can handle aircraft like Airbus A-320 and Boeing 737.