City needs HAL airport

City needs HAL airport
Political Parties Of All Hues Join Growing Chorus
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


With less than three weeks to go for the commissioning of the Bengaluru International Airport, the clamour has grown louder for retention of the HAL airport for short-haul flights, at least until the access to the new airport is smoother.
Political leaders, cutting across party lines, have joined the chorus. Sitaram Yechury of CPM, who headed the parliamentary standing committee looking into the issue, said: “Given the fact that in both Hyderabad and Bangalore, capacity has saturated there is no reason for the Centre to to close existing airports. The government should renegotiate the deal with promoters of new airports. As the PIL on the closure of Hyderabad airport is coming up on April 4, the government should not rush to close this airport by March 15.’’
Former CM M Veerappa Moily explained the connectivity issue: “The international airport was conceived during my tenure as CM and we had also planned the connectivity road to it. Unfortunately, successive governments under Deve Gowda cold-shouldered these plans. The Centre should negotiate with the promoters of the project for the sake of the people and impress upon them that at least for short haul flights, HAL airport requires to be kept open.’’
Former CM N Dharam Singh said: “An international airport for international flights is fine. But for short distance flights, one cannot be travelling three hours to catch a 40 minute duration flight. My party will represent to the Centre highlighting the difficulties.’’
D V Sadananda Gowda, MP and state BJP president concurred: “There’s no doubt that Bangalore needs an airport of international standard. The government should allow HAL airport to function for domestic sectors until a faster connectivity to International airport at Devanahalli is in place.’’
BJP MP from Bangalore North (which includes Devanahalli), H T Sangliana said: “HAL airport should be utilized for operating domestic flights and the government should initiate a dialogue with the BIAL on this. The Devanahalli airport can be utilized for international flights. Though costs more, an international passenger can afford it.’’
Meanwhile, the CPM central committee, on Sunday, called upon the Centre to stop the closure of Hyderabad (Begumpet) and Bangalore (HAL) airports which are under Airports Authority of India. The parliamentary standing committee had unanimously recommended that both airports should function given the rising volume of traffic.
“The closure of the existing Hyderabad and Bangalore airports will deal a mortal blow to the fortunes of the Airports Authority of India converting it into a loss-making enterprise,’’ central committee members noted. City needs HAL airport
Political Parties Of All Hues Join Growing Chorus
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


With less than three weeks to go for the commissioning of the Bengaluru International Airport, the clamour has grown louder for retention of the HAL airport for short-haul flights, at least until the access to the new airport is smoother.
Political leaders, cutting across party lines, have joined the chorus. Sitaram Yechury of CPM, who headed the parliamentary standing committee looking into the issue, said: “Given the fact that in both Hyderabad and Bangalore, capacity has saturated there is no reason for the Centre to to close existing airports. The government should renegotiate the deal with promoters of new airports. As the PIL on the closure of Hyderabad airport is coming up on April 4, the government should not rush to close this airport by March 15.’’
Former CM M Veerappa Moily explained the connectivity issue: “The international airport was conceived during my tenure as CM and we had also planned the connectivity road to it. Unfortunately, successive governments under Deve Gowda cold-shouldered these plans. The Centre should negotiate with the promoters of the project for the sake of the people and impress upon them that at least for short haul flights, HAL airport requires to be kept open.’’
Former CM N Dharam Singh said: “An international airport for international flights is fine. But for short distance flights, one cannot be travelling three hours to catch a 40 minute duration flight. My party will represent to the Centre highlighting the difficulties.’’
D V Sadananda Gowda, MP and state BJP president concurred: “There’s no doubt that Bangalore needs an airport of international standard. The government should allow HAL airport to function for domestic sectors until a faster connectivity to International airport at Devanahalli is in place.’’
BJP MP from Bangalore North (which includes Devanahalli), H T Sangliana said: “HAL airport should be utilized for operating domestic flights and the government should initiate a dialogue with the BIAL on this. The Devanahalli airport can be utilized for international flights. Though costs more, an international passenger can afford it.’’
Meanwhile, the CPM central committee, on Sunday, called upon the Centre to stop the closure of Hyderabad (Begumpet) and Bangalore (HAL) airports which are under Airports Authority of India. The parliamentary standing committee had unanimously recommended that both airports should function given the rising volume of traffic.
“The closure of the existing Hyderabad and Bangalore airports will deal a mortal blow to the fortunes of the Airports Authority of India converting it into a loss-making enterprise,’’ central committee members noted.