Will the long pending airport project of the district get finally realised with MP Ramesh Jigajinagi joining the Modi Cabinet?
This is the question lingering on people’s minds here after the MP of the district got elevated to the position of Minister of State in NDA government recently.
Since the airport project comes under Civil Aviation Ministry of the Union government, locals expect that the Minister of the district serving in the Union government will use his authority to get the project implemented.
It may be noted that Vijayapura, which is one of the prominent tourism districts of the State for having numerous world-famous monuments, needs an airport to boost its tourism that has still not been tapped fully.
Considering this, the government in 2010 had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private firm to develop the airport here. The government had granted 727 acres of land near Burnapur village for the project that had estimated to cost Rs. 100 crore.
Firm backs out
However, the firm, later in 2012, withdrew from the project, citing non-viability and possible economic loss after it received a feasibility report from its own internal agency.
Since then, the project has not seen any substantial development save for some announcements by the State government to grant land levelling charges and asking the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to take over the project.
Meanwhile, the State government has again initiated the process to expedite the project by writing a letter to the AAI to consider the implementation under a new civil aviation policy which reportedly has eased some norms for developing airports in the country.
District in-charge Minister, M.B. Patil who made this announcement recently, has also urged Mr. Jigajinagi to take up the issue with the Union government to ensure the speedy implementation of the long-pending demand.
