'Fine BIAL, compensate HAL'

'Fine BIAL, compensate HAL'
DH News Service, Bangalore:
The HAL airport must be paid compensation for being forced to stay open despite the governments contract with BIAL making it mandatory that HAL would be shut down by March 31.

This was a suggestion made by Vinod Vyasulu, Director, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies.

He was speaking at a discussion organised at India International Centre on the topic ‘Should the HAL airport be kept open?,’ which was hotly debated with the panel members and the audience vociferous in their opinions. Vyasulu said, “The HAL may have made different plans for utilising its space after the deadline date and the non-completion of the airport by BIAL must have upset its plans.”

Making a strong case for keeping HAL open, he said that emulating Hyderabad which shut down Begumpet airport does not make sense. He also cautioned that Tamil Nadu might create a new airport at Hosur and air passengers might opt for that airport in the event of HAL’s closure.

Strongly defending the government’s stand that HAL must be shut down as per the contract, V P Baliger, Secretary, Commerce and Industries department, argued that the completion of the new runway would ensure that 20 million people could be accommodated. He also said an airport would not come up at Hosur as guidelines by the AAI does not permit construction of an airport within a 150-km distance of an existing one.