Pune's international airport proposal grounded

The defence ministry has rejected the proposal to build an international airport near Pune.

The move could jolt the city's aspirations to be a leading international destination for industrial investment and hinder development of the information technology sector.

Although the city MP and chairman of the advisory committee for Pune International Airport, Suresh Kalmadi is doing some frantic lobbying in Delhi to get the defence ministry revoke its decision, the chances of the same seem to be thin.

The move to build an international airport at Chakan, 40 kms from Pune picked up speed in the late 90's when the city came to limelight thanks to the booming information technology sector.

After long-drawn discussions between the civic authorities, industry representatives and the defence ministry (which currently runs the Pune airport), the ministry had accorded an "in-principle" clearance to the idea of building a single runway airport at Chakan.

Based on a detailed study, the ministry has come to a conclusion that the proposed airstrip will be an operational obstruction in the movement of aircraft from the existing airport.

Another matter of concern for the defence ministry was that Pune is the base for the high profile Sukhoi 30 fighter aircraft.

Communicating the decision to withdraw the in-principle clearance, the defence ministry said in a letter to Kalmadi that construction of another airport close to the existing one will lead to a possibility of midair clash of aircraft.

Kalmadi said he planned to invoke the good offices of NCP leader and Union minister for agriculture Sharad Pawar and also seek a meeting with defence minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the issue.

"The meeting is expected to happen during the forthcoming monsoon session of the Parliament," he said.

The city's industry circles, keen on having a separate international airport for Pune, are extremely disappointed by the development.

President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Pramod Chaudhari told Business Standard, "This will be a major set-back for the city's image. While the micro-level impact will be in terms of time lost in travelling to Mumbai to catch an overseas flight as well as reaching Pune when returning, the decision will have a larger impact in terms of being seen as a place not properly connected with the world."

Pune already suffers from the handicap of not being a state capital, and now we will remain in the shadow of Mumbai for a longer time.

The city, being projected as an international destination for investments - particularly in the IT area - will be hard-pressed to attract overseas partners or foreign direct investment, industry players said. Vishwas Mahajan, CEO, Compulink Software, said the cancellation of the international airport proposal will prove a spanner in the works for the city's global image building process.

"We kept saying it (the airport) is just round the corner, and now we get to hear this," he said. Despite many infrastructure drawbacks, Pune has been performing well in the IT sector but now, the move to leadership may get delayed, he commented.

Pune's existing airport is defence airport, which is getting increasingly busier with so many private airlines starting flights from the city and commencement of overseas flights to Singapore and Dubai early this year.

The volume of traffic between Pune and Europe and the Americas, is however, much bigger and is at present dependent entirely on Mumbai international airport.