AAI officials inspect Mamnoor airstrip

Warangal: A team of officials from Airport Authority of India (AAI) has on Monday inspected Mamnoor airstrip for an on-site assessment to study the feasibility of reviving it.

The DGM Amith Kumar and AGM Ajay Gupta accompanied by Wardhannapet MLA Aroori Ramesh inspected the airstrip. Ajay Gupta said that they have made note of land available for the airstrip.

A design will be prepared based on the on-site assessment, he added. "With Kakatiya Mega Textile Park coming up in Warangal, there is an imperative need for reviving the Mamnoor airport that was closed long ago.

The Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is keen to make it happen," Aroori Ramesh said. It may be mentioned here that Mamnoor airport of the Nizam-era is once regarded as the biggest in the country went in-operational some three decades ago.

The major hurdle for the revival of the airport is said to be the Exclusivity Clause - 5.2.2 signed by the government and GMR Group that developed Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad.

The clause says no new or existing airport shall be permitted to be developed as, or improved or upgraded into, a domestic airport within an aerial distance of 150 km of the RGIA before 2029.

The existing airstrip admeasuring 750 acres requires at least 1,200 acres. Even though the district administration had identified land in Nakkalapally village abutting to the existing airstrip, the proposal never got off the blocks.