Karnataka govt. has approved funds for night-landing facility at Shivamogga Airport, says Madhu Bangarappa
By Prime Minister Narendra
Copyright thehindu
Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa, who is also the Minister in charge of Shivamogga district, said that the Karnataka government has given administrative approval to grant the ₹6.5 crore required to install navigational equipment for the night-landing facility at the Shivamogga Airport.
In a post on social media, Mr. Bangarappa stated that the amount was required to install Doppler VHF Omni Directional Range (DVOR), which was necessary to guide pilots to determine their position with respect to the destination. Due to the absence of the facility at the airport, the landing of flights was either delayed or cancelled many times due to poor visibility, the Minister said. Unable to land, the flights were diverted to other destinations, he added.
Public Spat:
Recently, Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra and Mr. Bangarappa were engaged in a public spat regarding the issue. Mr. Raghavendra, expressing displeasure over the delay in getting funds to install the equipment, stated that the management of the airport should have been handed over to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) instead of the State government. “I feel, I did a wrong thing by entrusting the State government to operate the airport during the BJP rule in the State. Now, we are finding it difficult to get even a couple of crores of rupees,” he said.
Mr. Raghavendra said that due to the absence of the night-landing facility, he had not been able to connect Shivamogga to new destinations, including Delhi. “Despite having an airport in my hometown, I have to take a flight to Hubballi from Delhi, and from there I have to travel by road to reach Shivamogga,” he stated.
Taking serious exception to Mr. Raghavendra’s statement, Mr. Bangarappa maintained that the State government had spent money for the land and infrastructure of the airport. If it was handed over to the AAI, some industrialists would have taken over the airport by now, he claimed.
The Shivamogga Airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2023. Flights began to operate from the airport in August 2023.
