Karnataka to ask GMR to withdraw objections on Bidar airport

A portion of Bidar Airport terminal building which has not been operational as a result of GMR Group objecting to its operation as the airport in Hyderabad

Karnataka Infrastructure Minister Roshan Baig today said he would be holding talks with the GMR Group during his visit to Delhi on April 29 to ask them to withdraw their objection to operation of facilities available at Bidar airport.

“I will try to convince them to lift their objections against operation of facilities available at Bidar airport,” he told reporters here. The GMR Group had objected to the operation of facilities at Bidar airport in northern tip of Karnataka citing distance factor from Hyderabad Airport, Baig said.

He also said the state government was ready to hand over maintenance and operation of the Bidar Civilian Airport facilities to the GMR Group which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. “We are ready to hand over maintenance and operation of Bidar Airport facilities to them,” he said.

He also said, he would meet officials of the Civil Aviation Department, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Defence Ministry in this regard and also on the issue of improving air connectivity across the state.

The terminal building at Bidar airport is ready and the government had obtained the clearance from the Civil Aviation Department and the Defence Ministry had cleared the proposal to use the runway and other facilities at the Indian Air Force station on the outskirts of Bidar, Baig said.

Similarly, government has initiated the process to acquire 84 acres of additional land to expand Mysore airport to tap the city’s tourism potential and attract investment, Baig said. The government has asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to start works to upgrade a stretch of the NH 212 next to the workable airport, sparing a chunk of land needed for the airport expansion, Baig said.

The Airport Authority of India, which has reserved funds for expansion of the airport, had reportedly made it clear to the government that it will not take up works to expand the airport until Mysore-Nanjangud stretch is realigned.

He also said, the dream of air connectivity for citizens of Gulbarga will be fulfilled soon as the bickering amongst the partners of the joint venture company Regional Airport Holdings International (Rahi) and IL&FS, had been solved. “Now IL&FS has agreed to complete the project,” he added.

One of the partners had initiated legal action against the other for refusing to participate in board meetings from February 2012, thereby blocking all attempts to raise the much needed capital to complete the project, Baig said.

Rahi was granted the lead role to develop, finance and build the Gulbarga airport through a government order on February 18, 2010.