by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore
 

•  Work to begin next month 
•  Airport ready in 2 years

Mysore, Sept 7: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) which was hesitant to take possession of the land for the development of Mandakalli Airport near here all these years in view of the litigation pertaining to 20 acres, has changed its stand and took possession of 154 acres of land to commence the work.

Deputy Commissioner S. Sel-vakumar handed over the documents to AAI Deputy General Manager M.N.N. Rao at a simple ceremony in the Airport this morning.

Talking to the media persons later, Rao disclosed that the work on the first phase will commence next month. The work to cost Rs. 70 crore will be completed within 24 months. The first phase includes construction of two runways — 1,730 metres and 1,350 metres. The tenders for the project were opened on Aug. 31.

After the completion of the first phase of work, ATR 72-type air-crafts (70 seater) can be operated from Mandakalli Airport with connectivity to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi. It will also have night landing facility.

Though the AAI needs 174 acres of land for the first phase, the district administration has been able to handover only 154 acres as the remaining 20 acres of land is under litigation.

Observing that the litigation on the 20 acres will not come in the way of the construction of runways, he said that it needed for the completion of work. He said that the district administration had promised to handover the 20-acre land as the High Court was expected to deliver verdict on the case within a month.

Rao disclosed that the second phase of the development will enable the Mandakalli Airport to handle Boeing 737 and Air bus 320 aircrafts. The second phase needed an additional land of 93 acres of land. It will have a runway of 2.5 kms.

Lok Sabha Member C.H. Vijayashankar, AAI Senior Manager (Land Management) Ravi, Air Traffic Control Senior Manager Gunashekhar, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) Development Officer T.R. Swamy, Deputy Development Officer K.C. Shivakumar and In-charge Engineer Srinivas were present on the occasion.

Verdict on 20 acres in a month

Mysore, Sept. 7 (MRS& RR)- The Karnataka High Court is expected to deliver its judgement over the litigation of 20 acres of land required for the Mandakalli Airport development.

It is a part of 174 acres acquired for the Airport development by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB). In fact, the litigation delayed the commencement of the work as the AAI was insisting on the possession of all the 174 acres to commence the work.

While handing over the 154 acres of land to Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials today at the Mandakalli Airport, Deputy Commissioner S. Selvakumar expressed the hope that the verdict will be delivered within a month as the hearing of the case had already concluded.

It may be recalled that one Ramaswamy, owner of the 20-acre land, had challenged the acquisition proceedings on the ground that the land was not required for the development of the Airport.