Kushalnagar: Things are falling in place for the establishment of a mini airport (or airstrip) in Kushalnagar and yesterday, Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Dr. B.C. Satish inspected the land that has been allotted to the project.

The DC was accompanied by some technical officers of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the officers of Agriculture Department whose land in Koodige has been earmarked for the project.

Discussing the land issue with the Revenue Department officials, the DC asked them to submit a report on the 56-acre land in the premises of Koodige Agriculture Department so that he can report the land status to the Government.

The land for the mini airport is behind the Kodagu Sainik School and is owned by the Agricultural Department at Doddathoor Village till the border of Basavanathoor village that has been mentioned in the surveys conducted by the Public Works Department. In June 2019, a team of officials from the AAI had visited the site and had accepted the land proposal.

In December 2019, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had selected Kushalnagar airstrip under the fourth round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) or the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN) Scheme. The airstrip was listed under the unserved airport category — any airport at which there have been no scheduled commercial flights.

The Government Order to develop Kushalnagar airstrip along with other airstrips at Chikkamagalur, Karwar, Raichur, Gadag, Bagalkot, Davanagere and Udupi was issued in 2018.