Pune: Airport Authority of India gives approval for relocating site 15 kms farther for Purandar Airport

Pune: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has in-principle approved relocating the site of proposed international airport at Purandar. The new site – comprising Pandeshwar, Rise and Pise villages – is 10 to 15 kilometres farther from the existing one.

The Purandar airport was given a green signal by the Devendra Fadnavis led state government. A total land of 2832 hectares was allocated for the airport site. The central and state government along with Defense Ministry and AAI had given their approvals for the site. However, some local villagers and MLA Sanjay Jagtap had opposed the site.

During a recent meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, MLA Jagtap had requested to relocate the airport site to nearby villages. Pawar had then instructed district administration officials to consider relocation of the airport and submit a report accordingly.

Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar and MLA Pawar had also met Defense Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi recently regarding the airport relocation issue. Singh had assured them that the relocation will be given due consideration.

While giving approval for relocating the site by 10 to 15 kilometres, the report submitted by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) states that this move does not affect the landing and take-off of flights and also does not affect the flight operations at Lohegaon Defense airport.

Also, most of the land at the newly proposed site belongs to government department and hence acquisition will not be a problem. The relocation of the airport will benefit farming in seven villages. The AAI took all these recommendations of MADC into consideration and has given its approval.

The land acquisition cost for Purandar airport will be around Rs 4,000 crore, while the total project cost would be around Rs 14,000 crore. However, the government orders for land acquisition have not been issued so far.