New Bellary Airport
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New Bellary Airport is a proposed
greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...
airport, which will serve the city of Bellary in
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. As of March 2020, the survey work has been started. The runway at the existing
Bellary Airport Bellary Airport is an airport serving Bellary, a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was once served by Tata Airlines and Vayudoot. Bellary was a part of the first commercial flight of india which was from Karachi to Madras, flown by J.R ...
is too short and narrow, and there is no room for its expansion. The new airport will be erected roughly northeast of Bellary, near the villages of Chaganur and Sirivaram. The area of the airport is around 900 acres. The new airport will be the 10th airport of Karnataka. Proposed in 2008, the airport project met strong resistance from farmers, as the airport would be built on their fertile lands. Progress on the project slowed in 2012, but resumed in 2014, with the land acquisition issues apparently settled. The survey work has been started and as per the MARG banner at the site, the airport is named as 'Sri Krishnadevaraya Airport'. It is named after
Krishnadevaraya Krishnadevaraya (17 January 1471 – 17 October 1529) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Empire, reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the g ...
, who was the king of the
Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
.


History

In September 2008, the
Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...
approved a proposal to build a new airport for Bellary under the
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...
model. The airport would be built on near the villages of Chaganur and Sirivaram, northeast of the city. The State Government began inviting bids for assistance from the private sector in December 2008. In that same month,
Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...
officials who had arrived to survey the land designated for the project were turned away by protesting farmers, who objected to the location of the airport on their fertile lands. Violent protests erupted in February 2009. In July 2009, however, some farmers said they were willing to give their land to the State as long as proper compensation was received. One year later, the State Government had acquired roughly of land for the project. Construction company MARG won the contract to build the airport, and the foundation stone was laid on 20 August 2010. MARG said it would invest , of which would be spent on the initial phase. This phase would encompass the construction of a terminal building with a capacity for 100 passengers and an apron with 6–8 parking stands. The airport would be able to handle
ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...
aircraft. In January 2012, the
Karnataka High Court Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
rejected the State Government's notifications to obtain of land for the airport. Over 70 farmers had petitioned to the Court, claiming it was excessive to construct a third airport for Bellary;
Bellary Airport Bellary Airport is an airport serving Bellary, a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was once served by Tata Airlines and Vayudoot. Bellary was a part of the first commercial flight of india which was from Karachi to Madras, flown by J.R ...
and Jindal Vijaynagar Airport in
Toranagallu Toranagallu, or Torangal, is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India.Village code= 928100 Toranagal, Bellary, Karnataka It is located in the Sandur taluk of Bellary district in Karnataka. Demographics India census, Toranagallu ha ...
, west of Bellary, already existed. The petitioners noted that
Air Deccan Air Deccan is an Indian regional airline currently operating from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It flies to a total of four destinations using Beech 1900D aircraft, as of November 2019. As of October 2021, the airline has temporarily suspended operatio ...
had suffered low occupancy on its flights to Toranagallu and that Bellary was equidistant from two airports, the ones in
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
and
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
. The loss of land made it impossible to lay the runway for the new airport. By June 2013, MARG had walked out on the project. Farmers who had given away their land decided to continue cultivating it as progress on the airport had halted. The Infrastructure Development Department of the State Government revived the project in mid-2014, upon learning that MARG had expressed renewed interest in it and was willing to survey the land. The survey began in September 2014. In August 2015, the Department said that land acquisition issues had been resolved and that work on the greenfield airport would begin following the completion of
Gulbarga Airport Kalaburagi Airport is a public airport located east of Kalaburagi in Karnataka, India. The airport was built by the Karnataka State Public Works Department (PWD) with technical assistance from RITES Limited and is operated by the Airports Aut ...
. The State then began the process of handing over of land to MARG. Around 900 acres have been earmarked for the project with the State reserving Rs 150 crore for the initial funding. The survey work began on March 20 and is expected to be completed soon. Currently, the airport runway will be equipped to handle the ATR-72 fleet but will gradually be extended to allow the Airbus 320


References

{{Coord missing, Karnataka Bellary Airports in Karnataka Proposed airports in Karnataka Buildings and structures in Bellary district Transport in Bellary district