The territorial administration will start official level talks with Tamil Nadu on acquiring around 200 acres of land for expanding the Puducherry airport, Minister for Tourism Malladi Krishna Rao said here on Thursday.
Inaugurating a one-day seminar on “challenges and opportunities,” organised by the Tourism Department, Mr. Rao said he, along with the Chief Minister, had discussed the land acquisition issue with Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam on the sidelines of the recently held Southern Zonal Council meeting in Bengaluru.
The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present at the meeting, had promised to recommend to the Finance Department to provide financial assistance to the Union Territory to compensate the land acquisition cost, the Minister said. “We will be holding a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary next week to finalise the modalities,” he said.
Airports Authority of India, Puducherry, has submitted a proposal to the territorial administration to acquire around 200 acres of land in Tamil Nadu for expanding the runway by another 500 to 600 metres. The report was submitted to the Tourism Department last year, detailing the land required for expanding the runway from the existing 1.5 km to 2 km to operate wide-bodied aircraft.
Mr. Rao said the AAI had agreed to fund the entire cost for expanding the runway. “Our only issue is the land acquisition and the financial burden involved in it. Once we crossed the hurdle, expansion plan can go in full swing,” the Minister said.
The government had initiated various tourism projects in Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam using Central funds of ₹183 crore in the last two years. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, beaches at Dubrayapet, Arikamedu, Veerampattinam, Chinnaveerampattinam, Nallavadu, Narambai and Kalapet were developed, he said.
He said unless the Union Territory tapped its full potential on the tourism sector, the region could not attain more growth. There was a move to bring petroleum and liquor under the Goods and Services Tax regime. Once these two products were brought under the GST regime, the financial position of the Union Territory would become more precarious, he said. “We need to focus on projects which could attract more tourists and increase their days of stay. There are a few big ticket projects on the pipeline and before my tenure ends the schemes will be realised,” he said.
Takes a dig at Bedi
Making an indirect reference to Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, he said the government wanted to bring more projects but certain forces were creating hurdles. “The government’s policy decisions are overruled. You all know who is creating hurdles. These hurdles will go in another six or seven months (indicating a change of guard at the Centre),” he said.
The Minister released brochure Destination Puducherry.
Tourism Secretary P. Parthiban and Director Tourism L. Mohammed Mansoor spoke.