Hubli airport to be back on radar in October, but conditions apply

Services at airport suspended since Aug 1 for expansion of runway and for providing more facilities for bigger planes to land and take off

Hubli airport will resume operations from October 26 since suspension of flights on August 1. But this is subject to everything going according to the plans of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the district administration.

The services at Hubli airport have remained suspended since August 1 this year for expansion of the runway and for providing more facilities to enable bigger aircraft to land and take off.

At a high-level meeting of officials chaired by Dharwad deputy commissioner P Rajendra Cholan at his office  on Thursday and attended by AAI officials, the hurdles that have come in the way of early completion of the work were discussed.

Speaking on the occasion, Cholan stated technical hurdles were created for the expansion of runway at the airport. The existing runway had to be expanded both in length and breadth for bigger aircraft to land and take-off. Accordingly, the flight services were suspended until the runway was expanded.

According to officials of the airport, a compound wall should be constructed along the boundary of the airport. This issue was raised during the security meeting and accordingly, 80 per cent of the wall construction work has been completed. Now, compound wall of another 2.5 km needs to be constructed.

An Ashraya colony (for low income group) that has been existing adjacent to the runway has posed problems for expansion. Unless the colony is shifted, the expansion work cannot be completed. The residents of Gamanagatti village had opposed the construction of the compound wall saying that it blocks their access to the Gokul road from Gamanagatti village. They wanted an approach road of 1.5 km to be constructed.

Cholan said a school is also located on the same area which has to be shifted and later demolished. He informed that the district administration had spoken to the AAI authorities and they have given a commitment for shifting the Aashraya colony 500 metres away from the existing locality. As many as 188 houses will be built in the new locality in the next six months by the AAI, he added.

Apart from this, the officials have also responded positively to constructing a mud road temporarily for the villagers of Gamangatti. Regarding the school, Cholan said, the school located in the area has already been compensated in lieu of the land. The school authorities are running the school in the same old building even after accepting the compensation. Steps would be taken to evict them, he added.

Hubli Airport Director K M Basavaraju said, if all the above hurdles are cleared, flight services will resume from October 26.