NEW DELHI: Infrastructure development is delayed in nearly 50 airports due to the states failure to make proper allotment of land as required by the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
States like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar have recorded a major gap between the land required and allotted.
As rapid growth in passenger traffic is putting pressure on the existing airport infrastructure, officials said that there is an urgent need to provide adequate airport infrastructure in the country.
There are many airports in India facing terminal congestion issues during peak time.
Currently, major works are in progress and planning stage at about 66 airports in the country. However, there are many states where delay in allotment of land has hampered expansion and development of infrastructure facilities at the airports.
For instance, airports in Gujarat (see box) including Bhavnagar, Kandla, Porbandar, Surat and Vadodara require land 490 acres, 323 acres, 434 acres, 2194 acres and 18 acres respectively for various works and no allotment has been done by the Gujarat government.
Similarly, AAI projected demand for allocation of 240 acres at Mysore Airport, but Karnataka is yet to provide the parcel of land. Rajasthan is yet to allot land at Kota, Udaipur, Bikaner, Jaipur and Jodhpur.
Officials said AAI is planning for expansion of airports which do not have facilities for landing of wider body aircraft.
Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has drew attention of CMs in expediting the matters for strengthening of aviation infrastructure.
AAI has embarked upon development and expansion of airports at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore in the next four-five years in order to meet the growing passenger demand in the country.
