Airport set to take off

In few months from now, travel time between Mysore and Bangalore will shrink further. Thanks to up gradation of the Mysore airport, techies and entrepreneurs can take the air route to reach the city. Putting Mysore on the airways map, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is opening new vistas for the tourism hub to cash in on the new economy by improving connectivity. The connectivity will not only bring the two – cities closer. It will make all the difference to both urban places; Mysore will shed its insular city tag.

After signing a MOU with the Karnataka government, the Karanataka government the AAI has recently posted Dharmachand Meena to liaise between the government and the authority to put the project on the fast track. Source said the AAI has allocated Rs 10 crore in the current fiscal for the up gradation, which is expected to be completed in 18 months from the day work starts. As per the MOU, the Karnataka Indusial Area Development Board has acquired 152 acres of additional land for upgradation apart from 243 acres that is available at the project site.

A plot under litigation is holding back the project. It is expected to be cleared shortly.

As per the pact, the government has to allocate additional land, make available water free of cost, and provide security. But for the land under litigation, the district administration is ready to get going to provide air connectivity to the city. According to Mysore MP C H Vijayashankar, the project can take off even if the land ia not available to them. This ia because it is located on the periphery, he states.

Even as the project is ready to take wings, there is boom in real estate business in the area. Coupled with proposed four – laning of Mysore – Nanjangud stretch of NH – 212 – Mandakalli is located on the busy highway the area witnessing economic activities. District in charge minister D T Jayakumar, who represents Nanjangud in the Legislative Assembly, is rooting for up gradation of NH 212 between Mysore – Nanjungud, Projected to be an industrial corridor. The Union road transport and highways department is examining the petition of the minister. What has raised the stakes in the land is that the area is planned to house one of the four proposed townships.