The state-owned 212 acre Jakkur Airfield, situated in the heart of the city, will be developed into a full-fledged pilot training facility and will not be handed over to any private organisations, Sports Minister Apachu Ranjan assured the Council on Wednesday.
He gave a written statement in response to a Call Attention motion of the Congress member K Govindaraj who had alleged that some vested interests conspired to sell the prime property to private firms and it needed to be protected from land sharks.
Stating that the apprehensions expressed by Govindaraj on Jakkur property owned by the Department of Youth Services and Sports were genuine, the minister said that the government had ordered an CID inquiry into the alleged forging of documents by the officials.
He said that the CID officials had registered cases against some of the officials, which is pending before a city court, however there are reports that the investigating agency had overlooked the involvement of some more senior officials.
Promising to write a letter to CID to re-open the case and book all the officials who were also party to a conspiracy to knock-off the prime property from the government’s hand, Ranjan said that the Assurance committee of the House is also inquiring into the irregularities.
He also said, “The Jakkur property would be further developed by procuring more planes which would also come in handy for operating short-haul services.”