Centre dashes Telangana’s hopes of airport in Peddapalli

The issue of an airport at Basanthnagar had come to the fore in November last year, when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy assured airports in Warangal, Ramagundam, Kothagudem and Adilabad

Peddapalli: The hopes of the local people to have an airport at Basanthnagar in Ramagundam have been shattered following union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu’s statement that it was not a feasible place to develop an airport.

Replying to Peddapalli MP G Vamsi Krishna’s letter, Rammohan Naidu said except the existing airstrip, no infrastructure was available at Basanthnagar. Based on a Techno Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR), the Airport Authority of India had informed that an airport at Basanthnagar may not be feasible due to the presence of high hills forming obstacles in the approaches. Also, it was located within the restricted airspace of the Indian Air Force (IAF), extensively used for flying training by IAF academy. So, in this regard, clearance was required from the Ministry of Defense, the Minister said.

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Moreover, the Civil Aviation Ministry had not received any proposal from the State government for construction of the airport at Ramagundam under the Greenfield Airport Policy formed by the union government in 2008, the Minister said in a reply dated January 29, which was made public now.

The issue of an airport at Basanthnagar had come to the fore in November last year, when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy assured airports in Warangal, Ramagundam, Kothagudem and Adilabad. There was a long-standing proposal to develop the existing airstrip as an airport near Basanthnagar of Palakurthi mandal. However, it had not materialized due to various reasons. In the 1980s, Kesoram Cement Factory authorities had developed the airstrip by renting government land and used it to land Vayudoot planes. However, it was left without any purpose with the Vayudoot planes going out of service.

Hopes for an airport had cropped up following the Centre’s decision to develop small airports across the country under the Udaan progamme announced in August 2017. As part of the programme, a team from Airport Authority of India also visited Basanthnagar in March 2019 to examine various aspects. In order to prepare a techno feasibility report, AAI technical engineer Srinivasa Murthy visited the airstrip on August 10, 2020 and submitted the report on August 14. Based on the report, on August 15, 2020, Assistant General Manager, Business Development, AAI, New Delhi, wrote a letter to the State government seeking the details of HFL.

Based on the AAI request, the Engineer-in-Chief (Road and Buildings) Telangana, wrote letters to Superintendent Engineers of six districts such as Warangal, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad, asking details of HFL particulars for Warangal, Adilabad, Jakranpally of Naziabad, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Basanthnagar of Peddapalli, and Devarakadra of Mahabubnagar. However, the then Civil Aviation Minister VK Singh made it clear that it was technically not possible to develop the airport at Basanthnagar.

High tension wires and hillocks, namely Bodagutta, near the proposed area were said to be major hurdles for the airport. High tension wires supplying power to south India from nearby National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) are passing through the existing airstrip. These issues were also raised by the AAI team during its visit. Though the district authorities had assured AAI officials to remove high tension wires and the hillocks to clear the way for setting up the airport, there was no change in the decision of the union government.