Bengaluru's second airport: Inspection of 3 sites completed, govt to get expert study after AAI report

Bengaluru, April 10 (IANS) A high-level team from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has completed the inspection of three potential sites for the proposed second airport near Bengaluru and is expected to submit its opinion within a month, Infrastructure Development Minister M. B. Patil said on Thursday.

Following this, the project will be handed over to expert firms specialising in airport development for a detailed study, the minister said, adding that the government will finalise the site for the second Bengaluru airport after that.

"The AAI team has visited. The suitability of a site for an airport depends on factors like passenger traffic, cargo movement, and industrial needs," he said.

"Currently, an airport exists near Devanahalli in Bengaluru. There is a condition that no new airport can be developed within a 150-kilometre radius of the current airport until 2033. If we begin the process now, the development of the second airport can start around 2030. Otherwise, even by 2040, there may not be another airport," he added.

Noting that senior leader and Karnataka's Special Representative at New Delhi, T.B. Jayachandra, has begun efforts to bring an airport near his constituency, Sira, in Tumakuru, the neighbouring district of Bengaluru, Patil said that a district-level airport might be feasible there, but it cannot become an international airport. BJP MLA Aravind Bellad is also advocating for a new airport in a location that benefits north Karnataka, but, just allocating land is not enough, he said.

"The Vijayapura airport is ready for inauguration. There is a pending case in the Supreme Court regarding environmental clearance. It appears likely to be resolved soon. Once that is done, the inauguration could happen within six months," Patil said.

About the controversial remark by senior Congress leader and Chief Minister’s Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddy that Karnataka ranks number one in corruption, Patil said: "He should have also mentioned who is involved in the corruption."

"No one is bigger than the party," he said.

Patil also said at the Congress convention in Ahmedabad, the party made decisions keeping in mind the poor, Dalits, women, and minorities. The 'one person, one post' rule in the party has a few exceptions. Such exceptions are made based on experience and seniority, Patil emphasised.

--IANS

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