Get clearance for Rajura airport before Wildlife Board meeting: Mungantiwar

Chandrapur: Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday directed officials to undertake all measures to clear hurdles in construction of greenfield airport at Vihirgaon and Murti in Rajura tehsil. He told the officials to obtain all sanctions and clearances for the airport by wildlife board meeting scheduled in coming October.
Mungantiwar held a meeting with the officers at the secretariat in Mumbai to issue the directives. He told officials to meticulously plan for the airport, so that it does not face any hurdle in wildlife conservation. He underlined that the airport is important for industrial development as well as to boost tourism in the area. The airport would also provide market opportunities to forest produce in the district, he said.
Mungantiwar, in his previous term as forest minister, had proposed the airport at Vihirgaon and Murti village in Rajura tehsil. Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) is the nodal agency for the project. However the matter was held up following strong opposition from conservationists. He had, however, taken stock of the hurdles in the project soon after BJP returned to power in July and had asked MADC to expedite the process of necessary administrative sanction for the project.
Administrative approval was granted to the airport on April 24, 2016, and Rs46 crore sanctioned by the government for the project. Of this, Rs41 crore was allocated for land acquisition and Rs5 crore for project management consultants. A total of 840 acre land is required for the airport. It is proposed to acquire 720 acres of land in the first phase and construct a runway of 2,500 meters. The second phase will see the extension of the runway to the length of 3000 meters. The issues raised over the length of the runway of the proposed airport and the safety zone beyond it were also resolved in the meeting.