HUBLI: Another hurdle for the expansion of Hubli Airport has been cleared with the State Cabinet on Thursday approving the proposal to acquire 650 acres of land for the project.

Revenue Minister and district in-charge Jagadish Shettar told The Hindu that the Cabinet had approved the proposal to acquire acquisition of 650 acres of land for the expansion of the Hubli airport and also decided to release Rs. 50 crores as the first instalment.

After the preliminary notification for acquisition of land is issued, the remaining amount required for the purpose would be released, he said.

The approval follows the Rs. 195-crore (initial estimate) proposal submitted by Deputy Commissioner M.S. Srikar for acquiring 650 acres of land, which includes acquiring some of the residential areas adjacent to the Hubli airport.

More than 155 houses will have to be acquired by the Government for the proposed expansion plan of the airport, according to the master plan submitted by the Airports Authority of India.

Proposal

The district administration had submitted the proposal three months ago after completing the ground survey of the number of residential buildings to be acquired for the purpose.

That was in response to a high level meeting chaired by Minister for Infrastructure B. Sriramulu in Bangalore, which had sought report on the availability of 650 acres of land for the expansion of the airport.

As a step towards clearing doubts among the residents of those areas that were to be acquired and also to take them into confidence, the district administration had constituted a committee of residents associations and involved them in the ground survey.

Of the 650 acres of land identified around the airport for its expansion, 530 acres is agricultural land and remaining is non-agricultural land.

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