Greenfield airport mooted as an alternative

Development of a Greenfield airport elsewhere in Krishna district has been suggested as an alternative to the expansion of Gannavaram airport, which is fraught with problems. At a meeting organised to help the affected farmers quote the price of lands they will be parting with, former secretary and correspondent of V.K.R. College Chinthapalli Seetharamaiah said he would approach the court if alternative land was not provided for the college that had a history of 60 years. Mr. Seetharamaiah said the college would be affected by the expansion. In fact, Buddhavaram village, which had a population of over 2,000, would be cut off with the airport on one side and the Eluru Canal on the other. The authorities had not shown a proper alternative road to the village till date.

Mr. Seetharamaiah said while the Calicut airport was built in just 337 acres, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was saying that another 400 acres was needed for expanding the Gannavaram airport, which was already existing in 530 acres. He asked what the AAI was going to do with another 140 acres available with it. He said farmers and people affected by the expansion needed to be told how much land was actually needed and what AAI was going to do with the surplus land. He said AAI was keeping the additional land to develop commercially. A retired lecturer of the college Vijaya Kumar said the aided college was an asset to people of Gannavaram. He said he had worked for the college for nearly three decades and that he had put everything into it. The expansion of airport would not be allowed unless an alternative road was shown to the college.

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