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Govt mulls building a new airport elsewhere
The 20-year-old dream of expanding the airport at Gannavaram appears to have hit a rock bottom. The locals there, who were dreaming of an international airport post bifurcation, have had their dreams shattered.
WILL GANNAVARAM AIRPORT BE SCRAPPED?
The 20-year-old dream of expanding the airport at Gannavaram appears to have hit a rock bottom. The locals there, who were dreaming of an international airport post bifurcation, have had their dreams shattered. Tired with the never-ending negotiations and the logjam, the government is mulling to build an international airport at Chikkavram instead, where it has 5,000 acres of land.
- Chikkavaram, Bapulapadu are new alternatives
- Compensation tussle between farmers and the government reportedly put an end to the 20-year-old dream at Gannavaram
- Govt couldn’t acquire 400 acres required for expansion in the last 20 years
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Officials are facing the ignominy of not acquiring the land required (which was a mere 400 acres) over the last 20 years. Several rounds of meetings were held with farmers and land owners on acquisition in the past 20 years, but none bore fruit. This was mainly due to farmers and land owners of Kesarapalli, Buddhavaram, Davajigudem and Ajjampudi villages demanding better compensation packages. Krishna district administration served land acquisition notices to over 185 persons, and nothing whatsoever was done afterwards.
In the light of bifurcation, the Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Industries took up the initiative and held talks with the farmers and officials, and these were in vain. Even after bifurcation, the land acquisition became a herculean task for the officials with the farmers insisting on better compensation for the lands.
Irked at the logjam, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu mulled over shifting the airport from Gannavaram to Bapulapadu (between Vijayawada and Eluru). However, sources informed that a proposal was made to build an international standard airport near Chikkavaram (between Gannavaram and Nuzvid road), where forest land of 5,000 acres is available.
The airport at Gannavaram was established by the British during the World War II and it was primarily used as a military base. It has a 2,286 metres long runway in 500 acres of land. Besides extension of the runway and provision of parking slots, the airport requires better facilities for check-in counters, passenger lounge, VIP lounge, etc, in the terminal building.
The government too appears to have not prioritised the expansion issue as it wants to settle the land acquisition for the capital first.
