Concerned over slow pace of development with regard to land acquisition procedures and development of the Karipur airport runway, the Greater Malabar Initiative today sought Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's intervention in the matter.
Greater Malabar Initiative is a grouping of individuals who are working for the development of Malabar region in north Kerala.
Its chairman Azad Moopen, along with CEO Gopakumar, and others submitted a plea to Chandy here, seeking his immediate intervention.
They discussed the necessity of the CM's active interest in the long-delayed runway expansion and land acquisition.
Moopen informed Chandy that the land acquisition issues can be easily resolved through all-party discussions on the matter.
The Chief Minister assured them that the government would intervene at the earliest, Malabar Initiative said in a statement.
Till recently, the Karipur International Airport was one of the busiest airports in India.
However, due to the instability of the runway, the authorities partially closed it, resulting in drastic reduction of services by various airlines and cancellation of all wide bodied aircraft to Kozhikode.
This resulted in hardships not only to travellers from the districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad, but also adversely affected farmers and exporters from this region because of lack of enough export cargo movement of perishables to the Gulf area.
Industries and IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala were also present.
