₹304 crore released so far for airport expansion

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The government has so far released Rs 304.85 crore for the expansion of the Chikalthana airport. Officials said the land acquisition process will move ahead quickly once the remaining funds are made available. The government also announced provisions for the airport expansion in the state budget presented last week.

At present, the runway at Chikalthana airport is 9,300 feet long. To enable large-capacity aircraft to land, the runway needs to be extended to 12,000 feet. For the runway expansion and taxi runway, about 139 acres of land will be required. More than 700 property owners have been served individual notices under Section 21(1). Officials said further steps in the land acquisition process will accelerate once the required funds are received. The final notification under Section 19 for land acquisition has recently been published in the government gazette, under which about 54 hectares of land belonging to nearly 750 farmers will be acquired. Individual notices have already been issued to the concerned landowners, and the final award is now awaiting the release of funds.