Hyderabad/New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS): Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday requested the Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to speed up the process to build six more airports in the state.

"I request the Ministry of Civil Aviation to kindly expedite finalizing the sites and getting all statutory clearances on a single-window basis so that the government can commence the infrastructure work," said Rao.

Rao is currently in New Delhi, where he personally met Puri and discussed the matter.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said this will enable Telangana to start non-scheduled operators' permit (NSOP) operations with its own funds.

Rao reminded Puri that he had requested the Prime Minister immediately after the formation of Telangana in 2014 to establish six more airports as the state has only one at Hyderabad.

Telangana had proposed new airports to be built at Basantnagar (Peddapally district), Mamnoor (Warangal urban), Adilabad, Jakranpally (Nizamabad), Devarkadra (Mehboobnagar) and Bhadradri Kothagudem.

Following discussions with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), it was decided that only no-frills airports for smaller aircraft will be developed, which may be expanded in the future for commercial operations depending on demand.

"Though AAI has already taken up the Obstacle Limitation Surface Survey (OLS), soil testing and other investigations at the sites and some draft reports have recently come, the final reports are yet to be given," he highlighted.

Rao also produced a copy of the letter he wrote to Narendra Modi on September 6, 2014 about the proposal for Puri's reference.