RTI: Airports in Hisar, Karnal not a priority

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, March 31

The project to set up airports in Hisar and Karnal seems to be not a priority as an RTI information reveals that there has been no concrete move from the state or the Centre about setting up the airports.

In reply to a query filed by state convener of the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch Subhash, the Haryana Civil Aviation Department said a team of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has inspected the sites for the airports in Hisar and Karnal on October 29-30, 2012, on the request of the Haryana Government. The AAI team prepared a feasibility report to develop these two sites as domestic airports.

But the report is still under consideration, the department said in its reply filed on January 12, 2015.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, during his visit to Hisar on December 29, last year, announced that the Hisar airport would be upgraded and the work would be completed in a time-bound manner.

Sources, however, informed that after the Chief Minister’s announcement, a survey about the availability of land around the existing airport in Hisar was carried out and a detailed land records and the site map was submitted to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry. But there has been no progress, sources added.

The Revenue Department had demarcated about 2000 acres land in the site map of which a major chunk of land is owned by the state government. The existing airstrip has about 196 acres and next to it is a chunk of 550 acres owned by the government livestock farm and 1118 acres owned by the Haryana Land Reclamation and Development Corporation. Besides, about 52 acres cattle fair ground and 64 acres gaushala ground is also available.