Minister for Sports V. Abdurahiman has said that the package offered for acquiring the land needed for the runway end safety area (RESA) expansion at the Calicut International Airport is the best in the State so far.
Addressing a meeting of officials, political leaders, and those who offered their land for the airport expansion at Haj House, Karipur, on Tuesday, Mr. Abdurahman said the government took pride in completing the process in a short time. He congratulated landholders who surrendered their land, officials who worked overtime to complete the process, and leaders who convinced people of the importance of airport development.
Mr. Abdurahman said the government could give a better package at Karipur than what had been for acquiring land for national highway expansion. “We started field work on August 7 and could finish it in two months. It’s a historic achievement,” he said.
The State government acquired 12.48 acres of land from 76 landholders and handed it over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). While 5.56 acres were in Pallikkal village, 6.9 acres were in Nediyiruppu village.
Of the 76 landholders, 28 surrendered only the land, when 32 lost their houses, 11 commercial buildings, and five other structures. The government has so far handed over ₹43.5 crore to the evictees. A total compensation of ₹72.85 crore is being given.
Mr. Abdurahman said the remaining amount of ₹27 crore had reached the District Collector’s account, and that it would be disbursed in two days.
T.V. Ibrahim, MLA, presided over the function. M.P. Abdussamad Samadani, MP, District Collector V.R. Premkumar, Kondotty municipal chairperson C.T. Fathimat Suharabi, block panchayat president P.K. Bindu, district panchayat member P.K.C. Abdurahman, Pallikkal grama panchayat president Abbas, councillors P.K. Firos, Salman Faris, and Deputy Collectors J.O. Arun and K. Latha spoke.
Expansion of the RESA at Karipur has been a crying need, especially after the tragic crash of Air India Express flight 1344 on August 7, 2020. As many as 21 people, including the two pilots, were killed and 167 others wounded when the flight from Dubai overshot the runway touchdown point while landing and plunged into a depth of 30 metres after wading through the 90-metre long RESA.
If the airport had a longer RESA, the tragedy could have been averted. The RESA is now proposed to be expanded to 240 metres.
With both ends of the runway protruding like a cliff, the RESA extension will involve construction of embankments with major landfills.
The AAI experimented by shortening the runway to expand the RESA a couple of years ago, forcing wide-body aircraft to stop operations from the Calicut airport. Expansion of the RESA is a must for resumption of larger aircraft operations from the airport.
