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Two of the four sites proposed by the Telangana government for a greenfield airport have been found unfeasible, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation informed Parliament.
The Telangana government had suggested four locations – Anthergaon in Peddapalli district, Kothagudem, Mahbubnagar, and Jakranpally in Nizamabad district – as part of its plan to develop new regional airports in the state.
According to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol, the sites at Kothagudem and Mahbubnagar are not feasible for the greenfield airport.
Under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008, the government must get a pre-feasibility study done and submit a proposal to the Union government for site clearance.
Minister Murlidhar Mohol told the Rajya Sabha on December 8 that the pre-feasibility studies were conducted in three sites, except Anthergaon.
“The studies concluded that the sites at Kothagudem and Mahbubnagar are not feasible, while the site at Jakranpally is technically feasible, subject to removal of man-made obstacles and obtaining of NOC from Ministry of Defence,” he said, responding to a question from BRS MP Ravichandra Vaddiraju.
Funds for the pre-feasibility study at the fourth site, Anthergaon, were sanctioned to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) earlier in October. These sites were all part of the state government’s plans to have six regional airports in Telangana.
Telangana currently has only one operational airport, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad. The Mamnoor airport in Warangal has remained defunct for decades, but the state government has been attempting to revive it.
The Telangana government recently acquired an additional 220 acres for the Warangal airport, and sanctioned Rs 90 crore for land acquisition on top of Rs 205 crore granted last year. In March, Union Minister for Civil Aviation K Rammohan Naidu had said that the airport could be completed in 30 months once the state government handed over the required land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Another defunct pre-independence era airstrip in Adilabad is also proposed to be developed as an airport. The state government has directed authorities to acquire 700 acres of land for this purpose, with the Indian Air Force reportedly giving in-principle approval for a civil airport in the location.