Ending speculation over the opening of the Kalaburagi airport, Medical Education Minister and district in-charge Sharan Prakash Patil on Thursday said there would be a trial landing at the airport in the first week of April.
Addressing a press conference at the Aiwan-e-Shahi guest house here, he said the work, including the construction of the runway and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) building, was almost completed. “The airport will be ready for operations this month-end. We are planning to have a trial landing in April first week,” he said.
When asked about the launch of commercial operations, he said that might take a little more time. “Tenders have been called for airport and ATC operations. The very purpose of a trial landing is to indicate that the airport is ready for operation. Then airline operators will naturally show interest in launching services. It will be a full-fledged airport with a 3-km-long and sophisticated runway that can accommodate even larger flights,” he said.
To a question, Mr. Patil said neither Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge, who took a special interest in speeding up the airport construction work, nor he might be able to take part in t he inauguration of the airport because of the possible imposition of the model code of conduct for Assembly elections in April.
“We did our duty as people’s representatives. We never aspired that we should participate in the inauguration. Completing the work and dedicating it to the nation is more important,” he said.
On toor procurement
Mr. Patil also spoke on the issue of procurement of toor from farmers. He said procurement was over, with 36.5 lakh quintals collected from 3.15 lakh registered growers.
“Nearly half the procured red gram was from Kalaburagi district. A sum of ₹400 crore has already been paid to farmers. The pending amount will be distributed soon. In order to minimise procurement hassles, we established more procurement centres in rural areas this year so that farmers could sell their crop at their neighbourhoods instead of bringing them all the way to the taluk or district headquarters. That worked well,” he said.
When asked about the BJP’s planned padayatra in his Sedam constituency to expose the “lack of developmental initiatives” from his part, Mr. Patil sarcastically said such an endeavour would allow them to see first-hand the projects he has taken up. “They (BJP leaders) don’t know what development we have done in my constituency because they never visited the villages and listened to people’s problems. If they take out a padayatra, it is good for them as they will see the development at least now,” the Minister said.
On Lingayat issue
When asked about the opposition from Veerashaiva community leaders to the Cabinet decision recommending ‘religious minority’ status to Lingayat, he said they could make a representation to the Union government as the recommendation is with the Centre now.
“We did what we thought was right. The Veerashaiva Mahasabha also welcomed the decision initially and made a U-turn later,” he said.
He also clarified that the Cabinet did not make the decision in view of the forthcoming elections. “We never thought of making electoral gains out of the issue. It was a justifiable demand of the community and we respected it,” he said.
