With plans to build channels, that will stop Visakhapatnam’s navy-controlled airport from being inundated by rainwater year after year, Eastern Naval Commander Vice-Admiral Sureesh Mehta is scheduled to visit Hyderabad this week to meet Andhra CM

Y S R Reddy to get the project back on track.

The INS Dega airport, a strategically important hub of defence aviation and an emerging hub for civil airlines, was flooded twice last October and again last week, virtually paralysing it.

Top naval sources told The Indian Express, ‘‘He (Vice-Admiral Mehta) visited Hyderabad in this regard 10-15 days ago and is expected to go there again in the next few days.’’

Officially, the naval spokesperson at Visakhapatnam played down the situation, saying, ‘‘The Vizag airport was functional throughout the recent rains. The runway and ATC was operational. However, the approaches to the civil terminal and parking bay for commercial aircraft was water-logged, which led to cancellation of flights on three days.’’

Of the two airstrips, the naval one has remained untouched, because it is built on a higher level. Construction of channels to stop flooding on the civilian side has not taken off since January as a result of local municipal elections of the Vizag Urban Development Administration (VUDA) and Vizag Municipal Corporation (VMC).

When the airport was inundated twice in a span of 10 days last October, crippling flights, Congress MP from the Rajya Sabha T Subbarami Reddy went down and announced a Rs 40 crore flood-proofing plan for the airport.

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