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Bangalore-Bellary flights postponed

By Our Staff Correspondent

BELLARY, SEPT. 28. The operation of flight services between Bangalore and Toranagal (Jindal Vijayanagar airstrip) in Bellary district, which was scheduled to begin from October 2, has been postponed owing to technical reasons, according to a press release from the Deputy Commissioner, S.N. Jayaram.

Mr. Jayaram had said a few days ago that except for the installation of non-dimensional beacon equipment, the other infrastructure was ready.

The airstrip had been extended to the required length of 1,600 metres, width of 30 metres and had night landing facilities. Even the Air Traffic Control had been set up.

Objected

The Bellary District Railway Action Committee has objected to the development of a private airstrip at Toranagal while Bellary had an airport.The committee said that the proposed airport at Toranagal was about 30 km away from Bellary city. It urged the Government to develop the existing airport at Bellary. The committee has pointed out that the existing airport had been idle since the Vayudoot services were withdrawn.

The airport was old and well known, as J.R.D. Tata had used it during his first mail flight between Bombay and Madras. It also felt that the Toranagal airport would only help the employees of Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Plant.

According to Mr. Jayaram, there was no scope for expanding the runway at the existing airport, which had to be shifted to another location. A few facilities had to be extended at the Torangal airport to make it a full-fledged one.

A high-power committee at the Government level had decided to make use of the facilities at the Jindal airport for operating flight services between Bangalore and Toranagal.

The committee has sent a memorandum to the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, and had forwarded the copies to the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, the Minister for Infrastructure Development, P.G.R. Sindhia, and the Minister for Revenue, M.P. Prakash, to develop the Bellary airport and operate flights from there.

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