Bangalore: In a move that could end up benefiting only one company, the director of the Jakkur Government Flying Training School (GFTS) has submitted to the Youth and Sports Services Department a proposal ostensibly to ferry ministers and senior Karnataka government bureaucrats by air within the State.
Named SPAN?– Small Plane Air Network – the “mission” is proposed to be achieved under the public private partnership (PPP) model and, according to the “concept paper” submitted to the department, while “the infrastructure will belong to the government (including airplanes and staff), the services to utilise that infrastructure will be provided by a private partner.”
But what raises eyebrows is that SPAN expects to tap into the Rs 10-crore “challenge fund” which the State government had established two years ago for the implementation of innovative ideas and projects so as to ensure delivery of state services to the people.
Some of the small airstrips identified in the concept paper are in Mysore, Hubli, Mangalore, Koppal, Bidar (which belongs to the Indian Air Force), Harihar, Hassan, Chikmagalur and Raichur.
What is alarming is that at a meeting with other Jakkur private operators last Monday, the GFTS Director Naveen Raj Singh, mooted that a cross-airstrip would be constructed over the existing one, a step that might endanger other flights, especially those originating from Yelahanka airfield. Constructing a cross-airfield would require the permission of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
27/03/12 Chandan Nandy/DEccan Herald
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