Kochi: Kerala’s infrastructure dreams got another boost on Thursday when the federal authorities gave sanction for the state’s proposed new airport at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district.
The Aranmula airport will be the fourth international airport in Kerala, after Thiruvananthapuram, Nedumbassery and Kozhikode.
Pathanamthitta district has a high concentration of families that have non-resident members based around the world.
The official nod came from the federal forests and environment ministry, according to reports from New Delhi.
The project had been caught in controversy over land-filling of paddy fields, and reports say that the ministry gave approval for using the land for airport construction considering that no paddy cultivation had been undertaken on that land for a decade.
The KGS group, which is proposing to establish the airport, is understood to have about 500 acres of land holding for the project. The latest nod from the federal authorities marks a key step in getting all the technical clearances required for the project.
On Wednesday, the inaugural day of the Emerging Kerala meeting, some organisations in Aranmula had held a strike to protest the airport project, pointing out that it would adversely affect the environment and heritage of the area.
