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Kerala speaker openly joins airport projects issue, demands international facility for state capital

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The war for and against new airports and upgradation of existing facilities in Kerala has acquired a new twist with assembly Speaker M Vijaya Kumar launching a campaign for the development of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.

Kumar, who belongs to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist, has plunged into action after Chief Minister E K Nayanar and party state secretary Pinarayi Vijan intensified their lobbying for the proposed Kannur airport. The campaign is significant as international operations from Kozhikode and Nedumbaserry airport at Kochi are in the offing.

The speaker has accused the government of neglecting Thiruvananthapuram airport, which he said had high potential for growth. He appealed to all MPs and MLAs from south Kerala and southern districts of Tamil Nadu, which are served by the airport, to join a delegation he proposed to lead to President K R Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to demand a fair deal for the airport.

Kumar said he is meeting the President as he had evinced keen interest in the proper development of the airport on one of his last visits to the state. He did not find any impropriety in taking up a developmental issue. ''I am a representative of the people and have all the right to speak for them even though I hold the speaker's office,'' he said.

He faulted the state government for its failure to hand over 27 acres of land required for the development of the airport. Although the airport authorities had demanded a total of 230 acres, 27 would serve the immediate need.

The rest is required for commercial purposes. The speaker asked the state government to acquire and hand over to the International Airport Authority the 27 acres of land at the earliest to meet the developmental needs of the airport.

He lamented that even though Thiruvananthapuram was declared an international airport way back in 1991 by the V P Singh government, there was little progress in improving the facilities to international standards. There was no departure lounge, emigration or customs areas, restaurants, cafeterias, duty-free shops or even adequate toilet facilities.

He said that in normal circumstances it takes two-and-a-half hours for a passenger to complete the customs, emigration and baggage clearance. This is more than the time he takes for his travel, the speaker said, adding that it was a sad commentary on the facilities available in the airport now.

Kumar said there is great scope for attracting large traffic into the airport as it has several locational advantages. He said that the entrance it provided to south India and its proximity to Sri Lanka and Male on the one hand and to the Middle East countries on the other were among its plus points.

The airport could also serve as an ideal connection to European countries, from where the tourists flow to India.

The speaker said that a recent survey had shown that the number of passengers in Thiruvananthapuram was increasing by 12 per cent a year. Of these passengers, 89 per cent were non-resident Indians and 11 per cent tourists. According to him, 167,000 foreign tourists passed through Thiruvananthapuram airport in 1997-98.

The survey found that the annual number of passengers using the airport would go up to 2.7 million in another 15 years. Eight airlines were operating 58 international services a week from the airport. With cargo and domestic flights, the total number of services would come to 86.

He said there was no basis in the apprehension that the strength of passengers would go down in Thiruvananthapuram with the commissioning of the Nedumbasserry airport.

This was owing to the fact that of the total number of NRI passengers, 23 per cent were from Thiruvananthapuram district, 15 from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, 13 per cent from Kollam, 11 per cent from Pathanamthitta and eight per cent from Alappuzha.

Even after commissioning of the Nedumbasserry airport, passengers from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and southern Tamil Nadu would be retained along with a good chunk from Pathanamthitta and a small section from Kottayam and Alappuzha. In effect the reduction in passenger strength would be limited to only about 25 per cent, he added.

He said that Thiruvananthapuram was an ideal refuelling point for international flights. It was due to lack of refuelling facilities that international flights are being refuelled in Colombo. If the facility was provided in the state capital, the government would be able to earn a lot of foreign exchange, he said.

Kumar further stressed that it was wrong to say that the development of Kozhikode and Kochi airports would affect the Thiruvananthapuram airport's importance. He urged the authorities to seek the cooperation of the private sector also for the development of the airport.

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