KCR eyes high; State to have airstrips all over

​Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said four runways and six new airstrips would be coming up in the State, which could handle more than 70 million passengers annually. A railway terminal with 12 platforms would also come at Cherlapally.

The Chief Minister was replying to the discussion on the Appropriation Bill in the Assembly on Tuesday. The Chief Minister said the airstrips would be coming up in Nizamabad, Peddapally, Adilabad, Mahbubnagar and Kothagudem. Talking about the expansion plans of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad, the Chief Minister said the second runway would also come up at the airport, which would be like mirror image of the existing runway. He said that the government had decided to decrease VAT on the airport because it was first-of-its-kind multi-themed aero city.

The Chief Minister said during the year 2014, the Shamshabad airport saw 256 flights landing and taking off every day and today the number of flights had increased to 506 per day. The airport handles 18 million passengers now compared to 8.7 million during 2014 and with the second terminal getting operated, the number of passengers was bound to increase to 35 million. He said Shamshabad airport was number one in the world in terms of air service quality. 

The Chief Minister said there were runways at Dundigal, Hakimpet, Begumpet and Nadargul (used during the Nizam’s period). The government proposes to have airstrips at six places including Mamnoor in Warangal, which already has the strip built during the Second World War and it has 750 acres at Basant Nagar in Peddapally, which has 265 acres of land, which was given to Tata-Birla. 

The government would take it back and will construct an airstrip. Similarly, another strip would come up at Jakranpally in Nizamabad, which has 850 acres of government land which is reserved for airstrip. Another strip would come up in Adilabad town, where the District Collector has been asked to preserve 385 acres of land close to the town and another strip would come at Addakal in Mahbubnagar and Kothagudem.

The Chief Minister further said a railway terminal would come up at Cherlapally to overcome the crowded Secunderabad railway station. He said 10 to 12 platforms would come up at the terminal and it would be like Nizamuddin Station in Delhi. To handle rail cargo, the State government had asked for a terminal at Nagulapally, he said.