Hyderabad, April 8 – An airport for defence will be built in Adilabad, Telangana, which will have a facility for civil operations, Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu said on Wednesday.
While the defence already has an airstrip with 360 acres in Adilabad, the Civil Aviation Ministry has requested the state government to acquire another 450 acres for building the airport.
The proposed airport will be a major facility with a runway capable of handling Airbus A320 aircraft.
A decision on this matter was taken at a meeting in New Delhi, attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Ram Mohan Naidu, and Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy.
Adilabad MP G. Nagesh, MLA Payal Shankar, officials from the Defence Ministry, Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the state government also attended the meeting.
Ram Mohan Naidu told media persons after the meeting that the Defence Ministry had already stated that it has no objection to the development of an airport in a joint venture with the AAI.
"Now, moving beyond that and recognizing the strategic importance of the site, the Ministry of Defence has decided to have a training facility for defence. They will develop the airport, and for civil operations, they will provide a facility," he said.
The Civil Aviation Minister said that the country already has 36 defence airports with facilities for civil operations. Joint operation by civil and defence is a proven and successful concept across the country, he added.
He announced that on April 17, a team of officials from defence, AAI, and the state government will do a field visit and conduct an Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) study. This will be followed by the preparation of a masterplan, which will require approval from the Ministry of Defence.
Ram Mohan Naidu said that once the state government acquires the required land, it can lay the foundation stone for the airport and commence the work as early as possible.
He said that the development of the airport at Adilabad would fulfill a long-awaited aspiration of the people of the region. He called Adilabad an ideal location for an airport and said that it would have strong demand in the future.
He added that the airport would develop the region into a hub and boost the local economy.
He stated that there is no airport nearby. Hyderabad airport, currently the only civil airport in Telangana, is located 300 km away. Nagpur airport is 170 km from Adilabad, while Akola, with a small airport, is 150 km from Adilabad.
The minister also noted that with a large tribal population, the Adilabad region has immense tourism potential.
He said the foundation stone for the airport at Mamnoor in Warangal will be laid in three months. The state government has already given the land for building the airport.
Regarding the proposed airport at Peddapalli, he said that the state government had proposed a site, and the pre-feasibility study was positive.
For the airport at Kothagudem, he said that the proposed site was not found feasible. If the state government proposes an alternate site, a pre-feasibility study will be carried out, he added.