MANGALORE: Of the 156 acres of land required for the construction of a new terminal building at the Bajpe airport here, the State Government has handed over 70 acres to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). But the Government is yet to shift and rehabilitate the people living on this land, Director of the Bajpe airport M.R. Vasudeva has said.

In a presentation before Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development, V.P. Baligar here on Tuesday on the projects taken up by the AAI at the airport, Mr. Vasudeva said that the Government had issued a notification for the acquisition of another 70 acres of land for the proposed terminal building. He said that the people living on the land handed over to the AAI had to be shifted and rehabilitated if the construction of the building was to begin.

The number of travellers using the airport had increased from 2.08 lakh in 2001 to 5.8 lakh at the end of 2006, he said. A new hall that could accommodate 250 travellers arriving in the city was under construction near the existing terminal building. The Customs Department was yet to give approval for the handling of cargo at the airport, he said, and added that coffee beans, cashew nuts, seafood, jasmine and granite could be exported from here by air once this approval was received.

Mr. Vasudeva said that the airport had obtained a customer satisfaction index of 78, while the national average was 75.

The AAI's new projects at the airport would include the construction of a new control tower, a technical block and an air traffic services complex, he said.

He told Mr. Baligar that there was a need to lay a new road from Maravoor to the site of the proposed terminal building. He requested Mr. Baligar to look into the matter of excavation work being carried out near the site of the proposed building, and said it would hinder the construction of a parking lot planned near the proposed terminal building.

Mr. Baligar assured Mr. Vasudeva that he would take up the matter of approval needed for cargo-handling operations at the airport with the customs authorities.

He also reviewed the projects being carried out on the premises of the existing terminal building. He also visited the new runway as well as the site where the proposed new terminal building is to come up.

Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao said that the district administration was taking measures to shift and rehabilitate the people living on the land handed over to the AAI. Senior AAI officials were present.

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