Meeting to decide on location for Bengaluru's second airport soon: Minister MB Patil
Bengaluru: A meeting will be convened soon to decide the location for the proposed second airport for the city, Karnataka Minister for Infrastructure M B Patil said on Sunday.
Before making a final decision, the government would consider two main aspects: passenger load and connectivity to the existing Kempegowda International Airport , he said.
"If we prioritise passenger load, areas such as Sarjapura and Kanakapura Road are strong contenders. On the other hand, if connectivity to the existing airport becomes a priority, places like Tumkur and Dabaspete will be in the lead," Patil said.
"These considerations will be discussed in the next departmental meeting and further reviewed with the chief minister. The matter will also be taken up in the cabinet meeting," he told reporters.
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The exclusivity clause with the KIA's operator Bengaluru International Airport Limited which restricts the establishment of another airport within a 150-kilometer radius, ends in 2032, allowing the potential development of a new airport by 2033.
Considering the time required for land acquisition and compensation for landowners, the government has initiated the planning process, the minister said.
Highlighting that major cities like New York and London have multiple airports in close proximity, he said, "In Mumbai, the distance between the two airports is 36 kilometers."
Regarding the Tamil Nadu government's decision to build an airport in Hosur, Patil mentioned that it needs to be examined whether the exclusivity clause with BIAL applies to this situation.
Noting that KIA is the third busiest airport in the country, following Delhi and Mumbai, the minister's office had recently said, last year the airport handled 37.5 million passengers and over 4,00,000 tonne of cargo.
The current airport is projected to reach its peak passenger handling capacity by 2033 and its maximum cargo handling capacity by 2040, it has said.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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