Limited airspace concerns plague Bengaluru's second airport plan: Report
Bengaluru: As plans for the construction of Bengaluru's second airport progress, the state government faces significant concerns regarding the limited availability of airspace, according to a recent report by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The report, cited by Deccan Herald on Tuesday, on the upcoming airport highlights that the “aircraft movement will be constrained due to restricted airspace” at all three sites proposed by the government.
These include two adjacent land parcels on Kanakapura Road near Harohalli, measuring 4,800 and 5,000 acres, and a 5,200-acre site on Kunigal Road near Nelamangala.
“Bengaluru has too many establishments that have already established their claim over the airspace in the city. About half of Bengaluru’s airspace is under the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), almost going up to Coimbatore. In the north, it all comes under the air force station at Yelahanka. Their airspace apparently extends up to Hassan. So now, we have to specifically earmark airspace for the second airport,” DH quoted a senior official from the industries ministry as saying.
This problem is not unique to the second airport project. Similar airspace concerns had arisen during the establishment of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
For the proposed Kanakapura sites, the instrument flight procedures (IFPs) will depend on IFPs at HAL airport and TAAL airport in Hosur. In contrast, the Nelamangala location would require coordination with IFPs at HAL, IAF-Yelahanka, and KIA.
“We will follow due process with the committee of the defence ministry to get airspace,” DH quoted Industries Minister M.B. Patil as saying.
While the locations near Kanakapura have hills on the eastern and western sides, the Nelamangala location features hills on the north-eastern and western sides. The AAI report also notes that all three proposed sites feature both hard and soft rocky terrain, which will present significant challenges during construction.
These obstacles must be “evaluated to determine whether they pose potential obstacles to safe air navigation. Any hill within the site boundary that is identified as an obstacle will require levelling,” added the report.
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Congress cites Maniben Patel's diary entries, asks Rajnath to apologise for Babri claim
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
