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Kerala speaker urges state govt to fight Centre for expediting airport project

Kerala assembly speaker M Vijaya Kumar today suggested that the state government should be prepared to go ahead with the development of an international airport in Thiruvananthapuram on its own, if the Union government continued to pay little attention to this project.

Inaugurating a one-day seminar on "Airport Development" organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalists Trust in the state capital, he accused the civil aviation authorities of being "cold" towards the development of the airport, even eight years after conferring the international airport status.

He said if the civil aviation authorities continued with their negligent attitude, the state government should not hesitate to mobilise resources for developing the airport to the level of the four other international airports in Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Calcutta.

Vijay Kumar said there was no justification for shelving the development plans of the airport here on the ground that two other airports -- in Nedumbasserry in Kochi and in Kozhikode -- had come up recently.

More than one million passengers from south Kerala and neighbouring Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu were dependent on the city airport. The passenger volume would certainly go up with every passing year, the speaker said.

Vijay Kumar suggested that the state government take the initiative to send a high-level team to New Delhi to prevail upon the Centre to release sufficient funds for taking up the airport expansion works. If the Centre turned down the plea, the government should come forward to raise resources on its own.

He said the state government should acquire 27 acres of land, without further delay, for the construction of a terminal, with an area of 37,000 square feet and with a capacity to accommodate 1.4 million people.

Steps should also be taken to cut down trees, a majority of them were coconut palms, which were cited to be a major hindrance in undertaking development works.

The Bharatoya Janata Party leader B K Shekar said his party was prepared to invite Prime Minister A B Vajpayee for getting the airport rededicated if the government cooperated with such an exercise, setting aside its political reservations.

Thiruvananthapuram Airport director V R Veeramony made a presentation on the progress of work and the immediate steps that were needed for improving the passenger amenities.

UNI

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