Union Minister pitches Sira as site for Karnataka's new international airport
Union Minister V Somanna has urged Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu to locate the proposed new international airport at Sira in Tumakuru
Union Minister V Somanna has urged Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu to locate the proposed new international airport at Sira in Tumakuru district, saying it would support the development of central and northern Karnataka. He said the request followed a strong demand from a majority of public representatives in the state. Somanna also appealed to the Karnataka government to make balanced and comprehensive development the guiding principle while deciding the airport's location. His remarks came a day after Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra asked the state government to consider Tumakuru instead of Kanakapura for Bengaluru's second international airport, and as Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said he would like the airport to come up near Tumakuru. Read Full Story In a statement, the Union Minister of State for Railways and Jal Shakti said legislators from Tumakuru, Chikkamagaluru, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Ballari, Haveri and Raichur, among other districts, wrote to him on March 20 last year seeking the airport at Sira.
Based on that representation, he said, he wrote to Ram Mohan Naidu on April 22 last year and brought the demand of the public representatives from those regions to his attention. Somanna said Karnataka's development has so far been largely centred around Bengaluru and that all public representatives have a responsibility to ensure balanced growth across the state's regions and cities by creating alternatives to the capital. He claimed that locating another airport near Bengaluru would not do justice to the development aspirations of central and northern Karnataka. "A new airport at Sira in Tumakuru district would place the central Karnataka region on a stronger path of development. The area around Sira is strategically located near the Mumbai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, the Investment and Manufacturing Zone, the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and several KIADB industrial areas," he said. He added that the region has strong transport links through Highways 48, 69 and 544E, along with state highways and upcoming railway lines.
Backing Sira, the minister said the area has large tracts of government land and sufficient water resources supported by the Bhadra Upper Canal, Hemavathi and Yettinahole projects. He also said the proposed site is close to the DRDO facility in Chitradurga, the IISc campus and HAL's helicopter manufacturing unit at Gubbi in Tumakuru district. According to him, the site at Sira is about 150 km from Bengaluru's international airport, in line with Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms. "The airport would greatly benefit people in central and northern Karnataka by improving access to international passenger travel and cargo movement. It would also promote industry, employment, investment and regional economic growth, thereby contributing to the state's balanced development," Somanna said. He added, "I appeal to the Karnataka government to make the state's balanced and comprehensive development the guiding principle while taking a decision on the location of the proposed airport." Vijayendra, in an open letter to Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, had raised objections to the proposal to build the airport near Kanakapura, the chief minister's home constituency.
The BriefWire