Decks cleared,runway extension to take off soon

The land was handed over to the defence estate officer. “This would benefit the airport with many domestic and international flights coming to this defence airport,”said Dalvi who will hand over the charge of the district collector to Vikas Deshmukh on Monday.

The proposal for extending the runway was submitted to the defence ministry in March 2004. The required land to be acquired for the expansion was to be carried out by the district administration for which the notification was issued under section 4. However,opposition from the private land holders had moved the High Court and the Supreme Court. The permission to acquire the land was given on March 5. The administration has received the certified orders from the court on the same.

“Extension of the runway is a grave concern for the people of Pune,particularly business community and frequent air travellers. This was a long-pending issue. Now,we were trying to speed up the process,”said Dalvi.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) had maintained that proposal for the additional runway was the Air Force’s decision. District collector and Air Force Station,Lohegaon,were to decide on the modalities of land acquisition.

Earlier last year,Airport Advisory Committee (AAC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi had said the focus would be on upgrading the Lohegoan airport as the Chakan Greenfield Airport will take another 5-10 years to materialise.

What caused the delay
PUNE: In March 2004,the defence ministry and the AAI put forth a proposal for an additional runway at the airport.

On getting clearance,the district collector began proceedings to acquire land for the same. Subsequently,a private party,whose land was to be acquired,moved the court contesting the acquisition. Later,the party moved the apex court,but it turned down his plea,following which a special leave petition was moved. The SC ordered a status quo on the petition in 2008 that has been lifted now.

Runway extension is vital for operating larger commercial airliners like Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s compared to the short-winged Boeing 737-8 and Airbus 319s,320s.