Nagpur airport to be handed to MIHAN in a week

The long-standing dispute over transferring the Nagpur international airport to MIHAN Pvt Ltd,a joint venture company of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and Airports Authority of India,was finally resolved on Tuesday with civil aviation minister Praful Patel directing AAI chairman VP Agrawal to ensure the handing over of the airport within a week. This was disclosed by MIHAN chairman and MADC managing director R C Sinha to The Indian Express. I met the minister yesterday and requested him to expedite the handover process. He has issued the necessary directives, Sinha said. Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari was also present during the meeting. Gadkari also pressed for a quick end to the impasse, Sinha added.

We are deputing two of our officers for the job of taking possession of the airport. One of them V S Mulekar has a 30-year experience of running airports and has retired as the Amritsar airport director, Sinha said. The minister had also asked the director to immediately hand over the proposed land to Deccan Air Cargo for its proposed air hub plan, he said.

Meanwhile,Sinha said reports about the AAI securing a veto power in MIHANs decision-making process were totally false.