(a) whether the Government has started the expansion work of
airstrips on various tourist spots of the country;
(b) if so, the status of the expansion of these airstrips;
(c) the number of such places where land has not been
transferred for expansion of airstrips;
(d) the scheme of the construction of airstrip Mandu tourist
spot of Madhya Pradesh which has been included in world heritage list; and
(e) if so, the time by which the construction work is likely to be started thereon?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION(SHRI PRAFUL PATEL)
(a) & (b) Development/expansion of airports is a continuous
process taking into account the commercial viability,
traffic potential/ demands, commitment of airlines to
operate through the specific airports etc. However,
Airports Authority of India (AAI) have planned/ taken up
development/ modernisation works for 35 non-Metro airports
namely Agra, Agartala, Agatti, Ahmedabad, Amritsar,
Aurangabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore,
Dehradun, Dimapur, Goa, Guwahati, Indore, Imphal, Jammu,
Jaipur, Khajuraho, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Nagpur,
Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Rajkot, Raipur, Ranchi, Trivandrum,
Trichy, Udaipur, Vishakhapatnam, Varanasi and Vadodara. In
addition, AAI is also upgrading 13 more airports in the
country namely Akola, Belgaum, Calicut, Cooch Behar,
Dibrugarh, Gondia, Hubli, Kullu, Mysore, Rajahmundry,
Srinagar, Surat and Vijaywada.
(c) AAI has raised demand for land at many airports from the
respective State Governments/ UTs. It is yet to receive land
at Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Indore, Barapani and Dibrugarh etc.
(d)&(e) At present,no such proposal is under consideration.