Surat: The dream of a full-fledged international airport in Surat may not be realized soon as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has reduced its original plan for land requirement from the state government from 63 hectare to 39 hectare.
A right to information (RTI) reply from the district collector’s office has revealed that the AAI had revised its plan for acquiring 39 hectare of land for the extension of runway in the second phase from its original requirement of 63 hectare.
During the meeting held on February 16, 2018, the AAI officials revised their plan to 39 hectare land requirement, but are yet to submit the revised proposal to the district collector’s office. Moreover, the first application for 63 hectare land has been closed citing presence of an underground ONGC pipeline.
Sources said AAI requires 63 hectare land for immediate expansion of runway up to 3,810 metre and the rest 800 hectare of land for future development of Surat airport. The AAI intends to construct parallel runway keeping a distance of 1,525 metre. The AAI is ready to spend on the expansion of Surat airport.
“Why the proposal for land requirement was reduced from 63 hectare to 39 hectare. Who is trying to save whose land by reducing the land size for runway development? These are burning questions which AAI should answer to the people of Surat,” RTI activist Rajesh Modi said.
Things were moving at a fast pace after Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha personally urged chief minister Vijay Rupani for allotting additional land required for the expansion of the runway during his visit to the city in March 2017.
Official sources said Sinha had met Rupani and urged him to speed up the allocation of additional land, which is required for the expansion of the runway from 2,905 metre to 3,810 metre in the second phase.
Rupani had instructed district collector Mahendra Patel for speeding up the land allotment, which is lingering for the past many years. But, the survey of the land by the district collector’s office revealed the presence of underground pipeline of ONGC.
At present, the total airport land, which includes tarmac, runway and terminal, is spread over in 317 hectare. If the government allocates additional 63 hectare of land, the total airport area would go up to 380 hectare. Despite repeated attempts, airport director Dilip Sajnani was not available for comments.
