Airport: Ball in Centre, AAI court

Patna: It has still not been decided where Patna's Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport will finally be shifted. The final decision will be taken by the ministry of civil aviation and the Airport Authority of India (AAI), and the agencies are weighing options to shift the airport to either Nalanda or Pawapuri.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the central agencies should spell out what they want to do. "They have developed cold feet on the expansion plan of the present airport. We had mooted idea to change alignment of the airport to expand the runway on Phulwari side, for which a survey was conducted. It was also decided to shift some places and the proposal was found to be feasible, but the civil aviation ministry rejected it," said Nitish.
The CM recently met the civil aviation secretary and the joint team of civil aviation and AAI which surveyed Bihta and Nalanda to select a place. The team found that Bihta, which also serves as an Air force field, was not suitable as a number of villages were likely to be affected.
21/02/11 Faizan Ahmad/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Feb 2011