Karnataka to give land for new airport at Mysuru: Prabhu

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has agreed to give about 300 acres of land for building a new airport in this city of palaces, said Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday.

"Met @CM of Karnataka and discussed issues related to aviation. He agreed to give about 300 acres of land for a new airport," tweeted Prabhu after a day-long visit to the city, about 150km from Bengaluru.

The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been operating since 2010 a smaller airport on the city's southern outskirts, with a terminal, apron, air traffic control tower and a runaway.

"The additional land will enable us to build full-fledged airport at Mysuru, as it has many tourist attractions and is well located at an equidistance from mini cities in the region," said Prabhu on the occasion.

Prabha was in the state's cultural capital to watch the grand finale of the world famous Mysuru Dussehra, besides a victory parade from the royal palace.

Prabhu assured Kumaraswamy of working together for the Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) airport as part of the Central government's mission to provide air connectivity to all parts of remote India under the Udan project.

Kalaburagi is about 650km northwest of Bengaluru.

Confirming Prabhu meeting Kumaraswamy at Mysuru, the Chief Minister's Office shared with the media a picture showing the two with two state ministers.

"We shall fulfil our PM Shri @narendramodi ji's Mission," said Prabhu in another tweet.

As Prabhu is also Minister for Trade & Commerce, he urged the Chief Minister to set up a task force to address the huge problem caused to coffee growers by flash floods in Kodagu in the state's southwest region in mid-August.

"We had an excellent discussion to jointly work to make Indian coffee a global brand," tweeted Prabhu.

--IANS

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