BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Friday to discuss height restrictions for the construction of buildings around defence airports in Bengaluru, particularly Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airport.
Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, had earlier written to Singh on April 21 about the same issue. In that letter, he had termed the restrictions “excessive”, asking for Singh’s intervention to help obtain no-objection certificates (NOCs) for construction within 20 km of the airport.
“Bengaluru is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and the HAL Airport is located in the core area of Bengaluru where there is a huge demand for development and the additional restrictions being imposed are hampering the development in the areas around the airport,” the letter stated. Shivakumar also wrote that the intervention would respect both flight safety and the developmental demands of the city.
This is not the first time that the state government has tried to seek the defence ministry’s intervention. Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department Tushar Girinath wrote to Samir Kumar Sinha (Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India) and Sanjeev Kumar (Secretary in the Department of Defence Production) on April 2, pleading the same cause. Girinath cited the rules set by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), particularly GSR 751(E), saying that while the rule imposes a height restriction of 150 metre within a 15-km radius of an airport, but for HAL, it has been extended to 20 km.
“(Using MoCA guidelines) will free about 78% of the additional area being covered in the 15-20km radius from height restrictions. In a city such as Bengaluru having four airports, it will ease out substantial quantum of lands from such restrictions on development (sic),” Girinath’s letter to Sinha stated.
The letter to Sanjeev Kumar also alleged, “Such arbitrary decisions will not only affect the development of the core city area but also negatively impact the transit oriented development and comprehensive mobility plan being implemented by the Urban Development Department.
Defence land for road projects
The DCM also appealed to the defence minister to facilitate smooth handing over of defence land required for various road development projects to decongest the city.
He noted that there is a requirement of 2.039 acre of defence land in Hebbal for the proposed Tunnel Road and requested him to facilitate the handover process. He also discussed about defence land required to build a rotary flyover at Byappanahalli railway junction (1.197 acres); 60 feet road from Ballari Road to Sarovara Layout; 24-metre road from government hospital on Lower Agaram Road to Ejipura Junction via Sarjapur Road (13.709 acre), and appealed to Singh to take measures for swift handover of land to curb the growing traffic menace in the city, assuring that it would not affect defence operations.