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MPs pitch for more airports in National Capital RegionBy Riti, Section News
Thanks to the altered political scenario, UP CM Mayawati's proposal of an international airport at Greater Noida may have been put in cold storage. But many Parliamentarians strongly feel the capital needs more than just one airport. The aviation ministry's consultative committee meeting on Monday saw MPs raising demand for multiple airports for people's convenience in places like Delhi and Mumbai.
With Maya out of favour, Haryana Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda has revived the state's old demand for an airport at Jhajjar. Congress' Rajeev Shukla has demanded that the Safdarjung Airport in the heart of Delhi be used for private planes and that proximity to VVIP Lutyens' Delhi should not prevent that from happening. Shukla gave a written representation to aviation minister Praful Patel, who chaired the meet, for his demand of putting Safdarjung to good use. Lamenting that this valuable infrastructure is lying unused for years, he spoke of security fears that have kept this place out of bounds for the general public. Click on Full Story for More.
``Even a plane taking off from IGI can reach PM House in 6 to 8 seconds. Also, planes landing and taking off from Safdarjung do not cross the VVIP no fly zone. Aircraft fly freely over White House and Buckingham Palace. The PM House here can be guarded with hi-tech aerial security systems, thereby allowing the use of Safdarjung in more resourceful manner,'' Shukla told Patel.
Currently only a handful of VVIPs like the PM or CMs of few states like Punjab use this airport for chopper or small aircraft. Movement of private planes at this airstrip was curtailed following the 9/11 attack on New York as security agencies feared a plane operating from here may be used to target some high threat perception site. Deepender Singh Hooda raised the demand for an airport in the state as it is among the few places that don't have an airport. This led to discussion on the state's proposal for an airport at Jhajjar that would essentially serve Delhi. Praful Patel said a group of ministers is looking into ``legalities of setting up of a second airport at Delhi in view of the agreements signed with the developers of the IGI Airport.'' The GMR Group says that IGI is being upgraded enough to meet Delhi's requirement and that it was not told at the time of taking over the airport that any other airport will be built in a 150-km radius. ``This is not the right time for to airports in Delhi as IGI will be sufficient to meet the requirement. Having another airport at this stage will mean both the airports remain unviable,'' said a senior official. Patel told the members that IGI will soon get a new runway that will ease congestion at Delhi. He also informed that the muchawaited modernisation work at Chennai and Kolkata airports will begin next month. Source:The Times Of India August12th,2008.
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