KCR Blocking New Airports In Telangana Despite Centre Push: BJP

Union Minister for Tourism & Culture G Kishan Reddy today said that he had written an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao requesting him to extend his cooperation for the construction of airports in Adilabad, Jakranpally of Nizamabad and Warangal.

He also requested the CM to respond to the letters written by the union government on the issue in the past.

The minister advised KCR to utilise the cooperation being extended by the Union Civil Aviation Ministry for the establishment of airports in Telangana. He said that the union government had come up with a scheme called Udaan in 2016 to build airports in various districts in the country and make air travel services accessible to the common people, and that the three places above could get airports under that as they had suitable environments for the setting up of airports, but that the State government was not responding to the repeated requests of the union government to develop facilities for the establishment of airports there or anywhere else in the State.

Reddy alleged that the CM had not responded to the letters written by the Airport Authority of India or Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. He said that he too had personally written a letter to the CM on the issue on July 30, 2022, and that there was no response to that either from the CM.

He said that the total number of airports in the country had gone to 140 now from 74 in 2014, and that the goal was to increase it to 220 by 2026.