‘Airport at Hosur will benefit floriculture and reduce shipment costs’
Chief Minister M.K Stalin’s announcement of plans to construct an international airport in Hosur, spread over an area of 2,000 acres, can see fruition if the State government stands firm in its proposal, V. Velmurugan, former president, Hosur Small and Tiny Industries Association (HOSTIA), said on Thursday.
On the heels of Mr. Stalin’s announcement on the floor of the Assembly, there was jubilation among the industrial community here despite the caveats of the Concessionaire agreement of the private party-managed Bengaluru International Airport, signed in the late 2000s, that has a clause against the setting up a new airport within a 150-km radius of the greenfield airport.
However, that must not come in the way of any State government’s policy decision pertaining to development needs, Mr. Velmurugan added. “If Bengaluru is scouting for land for a second airport, what stops us from having an airport in Hosur, which has a matured industrial infrastructure and an investment climate,” he said.
Bengaluru did not have this kind of industrial significance 30 years ago, and its international airport changed that. As for Hosur, an airport for cargo movement, where daily export of components is made possible, and investors travel to and from, the entire face of the northern and western part of the State can be transformed, Mr. Velmurugan said.
The Centre must work with the State government and enable the proposal, he added. An airport in Hosur would greatly benefit the floriculture industry, Bala Siva Prasad, President, Hosur Association of Small farmers, and Director, National Horticulture Board, said. As of now, the industry depends on other States for exports. An airport will reduce transport costs considerably. “It can reduce shipment costs by ₹7,000. But the implementation of the proposal is the key,” Mr. Prasad added.
Meanwhile, BJP State president K. Annamalai posted on social media that without fulfilling the previous announcements made under Rule 110 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Mr. Stalin has been making more announcements for the sake of publicity. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) that then Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation General (retired) V.K. Singh had clarified about the construction of a new airport in Hosur.
The Minister had said that no airport could be constructed within a 150-km radius of the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru for 25 years since 2008, in accordance with the agreement between the Centre and the Bengaluru International Airport Limited, Mr. Annamalai pointed out.
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