Will not allow IAF to shift helicopter base from Bengaluru to Mandakalli, tweets Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha

Mysore/Mysuru: Underlining the need of expanding the runway of Mysore Airport at Mandakalli to provide air connectivity to other cities within the State and important places in other States, the State Government has released Rs. 50 crore for land acquisition. 

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has released the money based on the appeal by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha. Over 240 acres of land is required to expand the runway. 

At present, the Airport has a single runway of 1,740 metres in length which is only suitable for ATR planes providing short-haul flight operations. The existing airport is spread over 490 acres and under the expansion project, the length of the runway will be increased to 2,750 metres and 45 metres width that allows jet aircraft such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to land at  Mysore Airport. 

In his file noting on the MP’s appeal letter, the CM said that works on the land acquisition must immediately begin. 

The MP also requested the CM to allocate Rs. 200 crore in the forthcoming budget to enable Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to acquire the land. There are plans to make the National Highway 766 pass through an underpass near the Airport to facilitate the runway expansion. While the road will be below, the runway will be on top of it. 

Tweeting the CM’s file noting, the MP clarified that The Indian Air Force (IAF) Helicopter Training Centre at Yelahanka in Bengaluru will not be shifted to Mysore Airport. “The CM has already released Rs. 50 crore for runway expansion. There is no question of the helicopter base being shifted to Mysore Airport. I will not allow it,” Simha tweeted. 

The MP’s tweet comes in the wake of discussions happening in some quarters regarding shifting the chopper base to Mysuru. In 2018, the then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had urged the Centre to shift the IAF Helicopter Training Centre from Yelahanka to Mysore Airport.

The IAF had conveyed to Kumaraswamy that it would develop the Mysore Airport on the lines of Airports in Pune, Chandigarh and Srinagar. 

In its proposal, the IAF had stated that it will develop the Mysore Airport with its own costs and make available facilities for both civil and military use. This would considerably reduce the pressure on the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, the IAF had said.