Land acquisition process is holding up the commissioning of the new airport in Vellore as the State government has not taken any decision on the compensation package for the residents.
The development comes after the Union Minister of State for Highways and Civil Aviation, V.K. Singh, inspected the under construction airport five months ago in October 2022. As per the requirement, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) needed 10.72 acres of private land especially between the new airport complex and the national highway to construct parking space, waiting halls for travellers and visitors and service lanes.
“There is no progress on the land acquisition for the new airport. The State government is yet to take a decision on the compensation package,” a senior official told The Hindu.
Being built on a 97-acre plot, the new airport comes up at Abdullapuram, a small village that was once the capital town of a local chieftain a few centuries ago. At present, the airport has a runway, which is 850 metres long, taxiway, ground handling equipment, air traffic control (ATC) and aviation information receiving facility, terminal building and oil depot.
The old airstrip, which can operate only eight-seater aircraft, is expanded to operate 20-seater planes that would connect major airports like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. The AAI has also decided to seek the assistance of VIT University’s civil engineering department in expanding the narrow airstrip for landing of bigger aircraft like A320.
Officials said the new airport in Vellore was sanctioned under the second phase of the UDAN-RCS (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik- Regional Connectivity Scheme) a few years ago to provide connectivity to smaller towns especially those that are closer to metropolitan cities and tier-two cities. The new airport will be a boost to domestic travellers. It would be convenient to those at Christian Medical College (CMC), VIT, leather traders in Ambur, Arcot, Vanniyambadi and Vellore would , officials said.
