Trichy: The much-delayed move to expand the runway of the Trichy International airport has received a fillip as Defence Minister AK Antony has set in motion the first step of transferring 164.68 acre of the contentious defence land to the airport authority. In a letter dated October 1, 2013 the defense minister has assured local MP P Kumar that "this Ministry will process the case for transfer in terms of policy for transfer of defence land."
The letter of the defence minister is considered significant as the military personnel in Trichy had consistently stonewalled the expansion theory for reasons best known to them. In June, district Collector Jayashree Muralidharan had remarked that the military personnel were not even willing to attend scheduled meetings to thrash out the issue. The 164.68 land lies in the north and south of the runway. The airport authority seeks to expand the existing 8,136 ft to 12,000 so that wide-bodied aircraft could land in Trichy, thereby paving the way for increasing the export potential of some 13 districts in the region.
10/10/13 Dennis Selvan/Times of India
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The letter of the defence minister is considered significant as the military personnel in Trichy had consistently stonewalled the expansion theory for reasons best known to them. In June, district Collector Jayashree Muralidharan had remarked that the military personnel were not even willing to attend scheduled meetings to thrash out the issue. The 164.68 land lies in the north and south of the runway. The airport authority seeks to expand the existing 8,136 ft to 12,000 so that wide-bodied aircraft could land in Trichy, thereby paving the way for increasing the export potential of some 13 districts in the region.
10/10/13 Dennis Selvan/Times of India
