Thiruvananthapuram: The Government is yet to hand over 6.07 hectares of land to Air-India to set up the Rs.70 crore engineering base for Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the vicinity of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.

Although the airline has received the official letter from the Government offering 6.07 hectares of land, the physical possession of the land had not been given to the national carrier. "Till date, we have not got the land promised to us free of cost by the State Government," Chairman and Managing Director of Air India V. Thulasidas told The Hindu .

The airline authorities had been unsuccessfully pursuing the matter with the State Government at various levels for the last couple of months. Mr. Thulasidas said he had taken up the matter with the Government several times. The delay in handing over the land figured in the meeting Mr. Thulasidas had with Chief Secretary Mohammed Riazuddin on Thursday.

Minister for Law M. Vijayakumar after meeting Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel in New Delhi on August 8 had announced that all issues connected with handing over the land had been solved.

The Government had promised to hand over the land required in two phases of 4.6 hectares and 1.42 hectares. Incidentally, the loss-making Trivandrum Rubber Works comes in the land identified for setting up the facility. Already, the Government has decided to close down the factory and to make it a sister concern of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

The issue has become complicated with Airports Authority of India (AAI) raising technical objections to the base coming in the land identified citing that it is close to the operational area of the airport on Chaka side. Alternate land was identified near the Arat gate and even inspected by the AI team. But, the alternate land identified was yet to be acquired by the Government.

A top AAI official said AI has applied for No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the 6.07 hectares of land and it was under consideration of AAI headquarters.

Mr. Thulasidas said the director board of the national carrier has decided to set up the engineering base in the capital after turning down the proposal from Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL). "While the CIAL offered us land on long-term lease for the project, the land was offered free of cost by the Government in the state capital", he added.

The base is to be set up by Air India Engineering Services, a subsidiary of AI. The decision to set up the base had been taken as Mumbai, the present maintenance base of AI, is over saturated. "Had the land been provided to us, the engineering base would have taken off by now," he added.

Air-India expects more aircraft of the 737-800 series to turn around from Thiruvananthapuram, the premier international airport of the State. The 737-800, with a capacity of 181 economy seats, is deployed for the operations of Air-India Express, the no-frills airline of AI, to the Gulf.

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