Govt sets the ball rolling on Centre’s proposal to develop airports

AAI’s Executive Director (Planning) Kalpna Sethi,with Director of Civil Aviation in UP government Devendra Swaroop,and Special Secretary S K Raghuvanshi inspected the site in Jhansi. AAI General Manager P C Mittal has surveyed the sites with Swaroop and Raghuvanshi in Bareilly and Moradabad.

“During joint inspections,availability of land and feasibility of AAI’s proposals was surveyed,” said an official in the state Civil Aviation Department. The official also said,“After assessment of area,cost and land use of the proposed sites and required land,a proposal would be presented in the cabinet seeking approval to hand over the airstrips and land to AAI.”

Among all six proposals,the one airport,which was an issue of disagreement between AAI and UP government for long,was upgrade of the Partapur airstrip in Meerut,on which Ajit Singh was keen. The Mayawati government in 2010 had shelved the plan,citing possibility of difficulties in land acquisition.

After the change of government,AAI wrote to the UP government in May and October 2012 asking them to review the project. Ajit Singh wrote to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on November 16 stating that the Partapur airstrip could be developed and upgraded for ‘C’ category aircraft to cater to civil schedule operations.

Singh requested to transfer the airstrip to AAI and provide additional 427 acre land free of cost and free from all encumbrances for airport development. He stated that state governments normally transfer land to AAI free of cost for airport development,but the Akhilesh government did not agree.

An official said that the UP government had now agreed to hand over the airstrip to AAI. “But the government wants AAI to bear 50 per cent cost of the additional land that has to be acquired. AAI has recently sent another letter to the government reiterating the demand to provide land free of cost. The government is considering AAI’s demand,” the official said. The government has recently directed the Meerut district administration to start acquisition of available land.

On November 2,2012,Ajit Singh had written to Akhilesh,asking to hand over existing airfield in Moradabad and additional 300-350 acres land free of cost to upgrade the airfield for commercial operations for ‘C’ category aircraft. The existing airfield there is spread on 116 acres. AAI has proposed to develop a taxi track,apron,isolation bay,navigational aids,localiser,glide path,terminal building,ATC control tower and hangers. An official said the state has agreed to hand over Moradabad airstrip to AAI to develop a civil enclave. Likewise,a new civil enclave would be developed in Bareilly that will be jointly used by AAI and Air Force station. Survey in both Moradabad and Bareilly was done on May 24.

In Allahabad,AAI has proposed to develop a new civil enclave because the access to existing one is through area of Defence Ministry. “New civil enclave will be equipped with advanced technology and the airstrip would be upgraded to allow flight operations in zero visibility,” official said. The inspection team surveyed the area on May 30.

The 1.4-km airstrip in Jhansi is under the control of Army and AAI has proposed to extend it up to 3.5 km for operation of Boeing aircraft . “The officials of the state government and AAI had inspected a land near the airstrip on Gwalior road but its cost is high with Rs 1.5 crore per hectare. AAI has asked to look for a low cost 4-km long and 400 metres wide land patch. We have started a survey for that,” said an official in Jhansi district administration.

Ajit Singh on October 12 had written to Akhilesh regarding Agra airport which belongs to Indian air Force (IAF) and AAI maintains a civil enclave there. Singh had stated that the approach to the airport is through the defence area and hence the visitors are subjected to harassment in the name of security and that deters the public from using the airport. AAI has identified 55.29 acres land adjacent to the airforce boundary and has proposed to develop a new civil enclave there. Singh had sought personal intervention of Akhilesh in expediting the acquisition and transfer of land to AAI.