Berhampur: Even as the state government had initiated to upgrade the pre-independence era helipad at Rangeilunda of Ganjam district into an airport about five years back, the snail pace of the project has pushed its future into uncertainty.
The government approved the expansion project in 2012 and sanctioned grants also but not a single brick has been laid so far, said some locals.
According to reports, the British government had set up a helipad at Rangeilunda in 1936 and it was used for airlifting of arms in helicopters during World War-II. Post-Independence, the helipad turned unusable due to lack of proper upkeep. Neither the Centre nor the state government paid heed to the demands of Ganjam people for renovation of the helipad.
On the other hand, Berhampur, considered to be a commercial hub of southern Orissa, saw a rapid growth of population in last several years while several major industries were set up in the district. Despite this and the presence of tourist destinations like Chilika Lake and Gopalpur Port, the district couldn’t attract much footfalls due to poor connectivity.
With growing public demand for upgradation of the helipad, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, during his visit to the Silk City in 2012, had given green signals to convert it into an airport.
A three-member team of Airport Authority of India (AAI) also visited the spot and sent a plan outlay for the approval of the state government. The state government sanctioned Rs 51.50 crore to be spent on acquisition of land and construction of the airport. The district administration and road and building department were asked to execute the jobs.
However, the project has stuck at the land acquisition level.
According to reports, a patch 1,800mt in length and 450mt in width is required to set up the airport while the existing size of the helipad is 850mtX200mt. So, another 370 acre of lands were required to be acquisitioned and an agreement between the administration and local people was made in 2013. Though the acquisition process began at that time, the construction of the airport is yet to begin which raises questions about the sincerity of the local representatives.
When contacted, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi said the land acquisition process has slowed down due to some problems. He, however, assured that the pace of construction of airport will be much faster. PNN
