Coimbatore: While the high court order on Tuesday has given a big hope for Coimbatore airport expansion, sources say that this is only an interim relief since there is another case filed at the high court which is still pending. Industrialists have stressed that implementing the scheme at the earliest is the need of the hour.
Coimbatore: While the high court order on Tuesday has given a big hope for Coimbatore airport expansion, sources say that this is only an interim relief since there is another case filed at the high court which is still pending. Industrialists have stressed that implementing the scheme at the earliest is the need of the hour.
The Coimbatore International Airport serves the aviation needs of people from at least seven districts. Each year nearly 30 lakh people use the airport. More than 25,000 fly in and out of the airport and around 12,000 tonnes of cargoes are handled every year. In spite of having a huge potential, there are only three services provided in the international sector, namely Sharjah, Singapore and Colombo.
Considering the future need and growth of the airport, an expansion scheme for 612.97 acres was announced in the year 2010, but this has still not been implemented due to a huge delay in the land acquisition process.
Meanwhile, cases were also filed by many groups of people against the land acquisition process. On Tuesday, in one of the cases filed by Ammaniammal from Kalapatti and 12 others, the court vacated the stay which was given previously and gave permission for the land acquisition process to be continued. While this verdict has raised the hopes, sources say it is only interim relief since another pending case filed by four groups has fetched stays for implementing land acquisition.
Airport sources said, "Huge delay witnessed in the land acquisition process is the main drawback for the airport's development. As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) recommendations, a runway should have vacant spaces of 150 meters on either side, but the one at Coimbatore Airport that is 9,808 feet long has only 75 meters of space. Due to this wide body aircrafts cannot be handled easily. Apart from the construction of the new terminal, a total infrastructural revamp is the need of the hour.
The cases filed in the courts have hit the growth of the airport in a big way. On Tuesday. the court gave a verdict by vacating the stay and granting permission for the land acquisition process. This is welcomed but this will give only interim relief because there is another case pending before the High Court in which four groups have filed a case against the land acquisition process and had gotten a stay in 2016. If this case also comes in favour of the government. then there are chances for the airport expansion work to be started soon. It must also be noted that the elections are also approaching fast."
Kongu Global Forum (KGF) director D.Nandha Kumar said, "The State government is showing keen interest and is putting lots of efforts to implement the airport expansion scheme. The judgement given by the honourable High Court is a welcome one. We are also aware of another case pending before the court but we are confident that the state government will get the order in favour of them.
Coimbatore continues to be one of the fastest growing two-tier cities. The airport is used by people from at least seven districts and some parts of Kerala. Each year the airport continues to witness steady growth. Due to lack of international flight services, passengers are forced to use the airports at other places including Chennai, Trichy, Bengaluru, Kochi, Calicut. Therefore, the expansion should happen at the earliest."