Hurdles for Tirupati International Airport runway expansion will be cleared: MP
Dr Gurumurthy said government was involved in resolving the land acquisition acquisition issues
TIRUPATI: The Tirupati International Airport expansion works are likely to begin as the legal tangles involved in land acquisition are set to be resolved, Tirupati MP Dr Maddila Gurumurthy said. The runway expansion work will be taken up first, following which other facilities would come up.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Dr Gurumurthy said government was involved in resolving the land acquisition acquisition issues. He said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken the issues with the Centre.
"During his recent interaction with the Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at New Delhi, the Chief Minister asked the Centre to clear roadblocks, including with regard to land acquisition, to speed up the works related to the expansion of the Tirupati and Bhogapuram airports. The Centre has assured it will clear all hurdles,” Dr Gurumurthy said.
The runway of the Tirupati airport was proposed to be extended from 2,285 metres to 3,810 metres to facilitate the landing of wide-bodied aircraft. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has proposed to extend the runway by 240 metres at one end and 1,284 metres at another end.
“Following the CM's directions, we have held meetings with AAI and Chittoor district administration officials over one year and chalked out procedures to clear the issues. As part of it, we held meetings with a group of farmers who had filed cases against land acquisition,” the YSRC MP said, adding, “All the issues will be sorted out soon and the land acquisition process will be speed up.”
The MP said that the AAI officials had informed him that after the completion of runway expansion, cargo flight services, flight overhauling and engine service centre will come up at the airport. He recalled that the Centre had allotted a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for the TIA.