Bhawanipatana: Although renovation work at the Utkela airstrip in this block in Kalahandi district has been undertaken under UDAN, the project has remained stuck halfway for various factors, a report said.
The airstrip was established in 1962 in Utkela panchayat of this block while the Central government started its renovation so as to operate commercial flights of 12 to 50 seat aircraft to Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapatnam, New Delhi, Raipur, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.
In 2016-17, the renovation of the airstrip was taken up with Rs3 crore sanctioned under UDAN. The PWD carried out various infrastructure works like expansion of its runway, boundary wall, drainage, signal room, control room, rest house, guest house and other ancillary works for the airstrip, which spreads over 28 acres.
All major works at the airstrip have been completed except works on the signal room, control room and rest houses. The runway of the airstrip is 918 metres long and 32 metres wide extending from east to west.
It may be noted here that the state Works department even wrote to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry requesting it to help in land acquisition for expanding the airstrip in 2014-15 fiscal in Kokomunda and Themra villages located on both sides of the airstrip.
The blacktopping of the runway and construction of roads in the airstrip were completed at an expense of Rs1.15 crore in 2013-14 fiscal. The National Highway-26 connecting the airstrip was also blacktopped in 2017-18 fiscal.
In 2017, the Bhubaneswar-based private airline Air Odisha had announced that it would launch regular flights from Kalahandi to Bhubaneswar in September, 2017.
The airline also conducted a successful trial flight from Bhubaneswar airport to Utkela airstrip May 23, 2016.
The airline also announced flight timings and ticket prices for flights from Utkela to Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar to Jeypore and Jharsuguda to Bhubaneswar.
However, there is a need for 10 acres of land for several other infrastructures like terminal building and fuel station while Rs16 crore is required for more infrastructural development.
The district administration had submitted a survey report about acquisition of 10 acres of land for approval. But the government approval is still being awaited.
To carry forward the work of the airstrip work, then joint secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry Usha Padhi and the managing director of the Airport Authority of India reviewed the progress of the airstrip project May 5, 2019.
Locals lamented that till date the project is yet to be commissioned.
Rajya Sabha MP Sujit Kumar raised the issue in the Parliament and sought to know from Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri about the project.
In reply, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that Rs 8.113 crore has been spent for the Utkela airstrip by August 31, 2020.
The minister also added that the AAI had floated round biding of its work in the first phase. If any bid is accepted in the next round bidding, its work will be completed then.
For Regional Connectivity Scheme, the AAI had given its work top network. But the agreement was canceled later, the minister said.
PNN