Peddapalli: Demand for Basanthnagar airport comes up again
The hopes among the public on the airport have also gone up with the CM’s statement since there was a long-standing proposal to develop the existing airstrip as an airport near Basanthnagar of Palakurthi mandal.
Peddapalli: The issue of the Basanthnagar airport has once again came to fore with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s recent statement on establishing airports in Warangal, Ramagundam, Kothagudem and Adilabad.
The hopes among the public on the airport have also gone up with the CM’s statement since there was a long-standing proposal to develop the existing airstrip as an airport near Basanthnagar of Palakurthi mandal.
In the 1980s, Kesoram Cement Factory authorities had developed the airstrip by taking government land on rent and used it to land Vayudoot planes. However, the airstrip was left without any purpose with the Vayudoot services being shut down. Though there was a proposal for an airport, it did not materialize due to various reasons.
Hopes for an airport have come up following the union government deciding to develop small airports across the country under the Udan 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 a report on August 14. Based on the report, AAI sought the details of High Flood Levels (HFL) at the proposed airport from the state government.
In this regard, 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 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.
SEs were asked to provide the details of HFL particulars for the following proposed six Airport locations such as Warangal, Adilabad, Jakranpalli of Naziabad, Badradri-Kothagudem, Basanthnagar of Peddapalli, and Devarakadra of Mahabubnagar.
Later on, there was no progress in the issue and there was no mention of Basanthnagar airport in 152 airports announced in the last year’s budget by the union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman. Moreover, 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 near the proposed area are said to be the 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. Besides high tension wires, Bodagutta (a hillock) located in Kannala village is another hurdle for the airport. These issues were also raised by the AAI team during its visit. The team pointed out to the district administration that the high tension wires and the Bodagutta hillocks are likely to disrupt the flight path of landing aircraft.
District authorities had assured AAI officials to remove high tension wires and hillocks to clear the way for setting up the airport. The airstrip is spread over 288 acres and it required another 350 acres of land to develop the airport. 291 acres of government land is available and district officials have decided to acquire another 60 acres.
