Mamnoor Airstrip revival put on fast-track

Warangal: The revival of the Mamnoor Airstrip is almost certain if one goes by the outcome of the high-level meeting held in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Earlier, a lot was said and written about the resurgence of Mamnoor Airport, which went defunct in the mid-1980s, but the proposal continued to languish, much to the despair of the people in the region.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Environment, Forest and Endowments Konda Surekha, Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Revenue and Warangal district in-charge Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Advisor to the CMO Vem Narender Reddy has rekindled the hopes of revival of the airport. Surekha stated that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is keen to operationalize the Mamnoor Airport as early as possible. “With the GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited already given its consent, which is mandatory for establishing airports within a distance of 150 kms from Shamshabad, to operationalize the Mamnoor Airstrip, it’s just a matter of time before everything falls in place. A proposal to run cargo services is also on the cards,” Surekha said. She added that the cargo services will be of immense help once the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park (KMTP) starts producing goods.

The other long-pending issue hampering the development of Warangal is its unrenewed Master Plan. After the emergence of the first master plan in 1971 which was valid for 15 years, the successive governments failed to roll out a newer one.