Media Release
New Delhi, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada (DK) MP Capt Brijesh Chowta on Friday raised the issue of the bottlenecks that the Mangaluru International Airport is facing with regard to land acquisition that is hampering its safety and expansion.
Drawing attention of the august house and the civil aviation ministry during the zero hour of Parliament, he made a heartfelt appeal to the government to enable the ‘udaan’ (Hindi for flight) of Mangaluru city.
“I seek that our honourable union minister through his intervention enables the ‘Udaan’ of Mangaluru, a city which is the embodiment of the idea of 'Vikas Bhi Virasat Bhi’,” he said.
“Mangaluru airport, which is operated by a private operator, has sought aadditionnel land to provide safety area for the runway, from the district administration which has asked the state government who has written AAI of India and is willing to facilitate the land acquisition process. I have personally met the secretary for civil aviation, who also agreed to this,” he said in his speech.
“But this is where it is now stuck. While all agencies in principle and in their own capacity and spaces say they are willing to make this happen, there has not been any action initiated to facilitate this. The bottle neck is that there is no instruction from the AAI to the private operator or the state government. The next course of action has not been communicated to any of the agencies involved,” he added.
Stressing on the importance of the said intervention and the impact of a bureaucratic delay on the expansion and safety of the Mangaluru airport, he said, “This is the need of the hour; that the central aviation ministry intervenes and facilitates a dialogue between all the agencies and at the earliest makes land acquisition a reality.”