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Green panel okays airports at Belagavi, Ajmer

Last Updated 01 February 2015, 19:15 IST

A high-level Environment Ministry panel has given the nod to the development of no-frill airports at Kishangarh in Rajasthan’s Ajmer and Belagavi in Karnataka.

The Expert Appraisal Committee for Projects related to Infrastructure Development, however, did not express a lenient view towards proposal by Airport Authority of India (AAI) to have a Greenfield Airport at Holongi river plain in Arunachal Pradesh, said sources.

The AAI had approached the Environment Ministry to upgrade and modernise the existing Belagavi airport to facilitate operation of four flights of A-321 aircraft per day. Currently, it handles ATR-72 aircraft only.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the state government and AAI for the modernisation of Belagavi airport.

The area of the existing airport is 360.34 acres, and an additional 370 acres have been provided for the expansion phase by the state government. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 293.35 crore.

The airport will be developed for safe operation of A-321 aircraft by developing, among other things, a new runway and a terminal building to handle 200 peak-hour passengers, an apron, air-traffic controller, runway-end safety, isolation bay, fire-fighting equipment, rainwater harvesting and sewage treatment plant.

The airport currently handles 13,778 passengers annually, which is expected to increase to 92,590 by 2022-23.

In case of developing a domestic airport at Rajasthan’s Kishangarh, the facility, with a 2,152-m-long runway, will come up over a sprawling 441.7-acres area. It is aimed at giving air connectivity to Ajmer, famous for the Pushkar fair and the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

The airport will be developed for operation of DASH-8Q 400-type aircraft. Approximately five flights will operate daily.

The panel, which considered AAI’s proposal to have a Greenfield airport at Arunachal Pradesh, was of the view that the entire approach area of the proposed project falls in the Holongi river plain.

“To the best of its knowledge, the committee is aware that no construction is allowed in flood plains,” it noted.

It also said if these areas are washed away during floods, the airstrip would not be fit for operation.

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(Published 01 February 2015, 19:15 IST)

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