AAI team to visit state soon for airstrip development

Earlier, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to to take up feasibility studies for developing the existing state owned airstrips

A four-member team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is scheduled to visit Odisha during August 6-8 in connection with the plan to upgrade the existing airstrips in the state.

The team led by P K Mohapatra, joint general manager (plan), will visit Gopalpur, Keonjhar and Baripada airstrips to map the existing infrastructure for development of air connectivity in the state.

The state general administration (GA) department has asked the sub-collector and tehsildar of the concerned areas to be present during the time of field inspections with Survey of India and revenue maps.

Besides, the executive engineer (roads & buildings) division of the concerned area will act as the nodal officer and furnish all technical information to the visiting AAI team.

Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to take up feasibility studies for developing the existing state owned airstrips at Gopalpur and Jeypore into full-fledged regional airports.

Apart from a domestic airport in Bhubaneswar, Odisha has 17 airstrips out of which 12 airstrips come under the administrative control of the state government. Besides making efforts to get the international tag for the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar, the state government aimed to develop 12 airstrips in order to enable them to handle small aircraft suitable for air charter services and also for tourism purposes. The state government has begun land scouting for upgrading the Jeypore airstrip into an airport. The GA department has asked the Koraput collector to identify 310 acres of land for the purpose.