BERHAMPUR: A non-scheduled flight will take off from Rangeilunda airstrip on the outskirts of Berhampur city to Bhubaneswar on March 5, the birth anniversary of legendary statesman and former chief minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik. Work on the airstrip terminal is going on in war-footing and will be completed by March 3.
However, the airstrip does not have an air traffic control tower. An official said the tower is not required for non-scheduled flights. He said if everything goes as per plan, in the second phase, scheduled flights will be operated from the airstrip. The state government has urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to include the airstrip under Udaan and Rural Connectivity schemes.
A sum of Rs 50 crore has already been sanctioned by the ministry for the expansion and development of the airstrip which was set up in 1936 primarily for airlifting of arms and ammunition during World War 2. The airstrip became unusable post Independence. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Berhampur in 2012, had given his green signal to convert the airstrip into an airport.
A threemember team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had visited the airstrip and sent a plan outlay to the state government for approval. Though the state government had decided to acquire land for the airport and directed the district administrat ion and Roads and Buildings department to execute the work, it could not materialise due to resistance by private land owners.
For the expansion of the airstrip, a 1,800 metre long and 450 metre wide patch is required. The existing 750 metre airstrip is only 975 metre long and 150 metre wide. Earlier, a flight was operated from the airstrip by New Delhi-based Global Avianautics Limited. The six-seater twin engine aircraft with two pilots and four passengers flew only for a day.