New airport inauguration gets EC clearance

New airport inauguration gets EC clearance
DH News Service, Bangalore:
The State assembly elections, which had threatened to play spoil sport with the inauguration of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), will have no bearings as it is to open on its scheduled date on May 11...


The Election Commission has given clearance to Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday to go ahead with the inauguration of the BIA on May 11.

Around 89 constituencies in the state including Bangalore will be going to polls on May 10 during the first phase of polls in the state.

“The Ministry has received clearance from the Election Commission to inaugurate the BIA on May 11, a day after the completion of the first phase of polling for the forthcoming assembly elections in Karnataka,” Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, K N Srivastava told Deccan Herald.

However, the inauguration of the BIA in Devanahalli, unlike the GMR International Airport in Hyderabad, which was inaugurated last month, would be minus any fanfare as the election code of conduct restricts a gala celebration.

Ministry officials said that there would not be any fanfare associated with the inauguration of the airport due to the elections. “Instead, the occasion would signal the commencement of commercial flight operations from the BIA,” said officials.

The BIA was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 28 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to start commercial operations from April 1. But, it was re-scheduled to open on May 11 following technical constraints in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower.

Meanwhile, BIAL and the Ministry refused to comment on the Karnataka High Court’s directive to the government to renegotiate with BIAL.