Why should states spend thousands of crores building airports only to hand them over to the Centre, and then struggle to sustain flight operations? This is the question Karnataka’s industries and infrastructure
development minister MB Patil has been seeking to address as he plans to propose the state’s first comprehensive Civil Aviation Policy in the upcoming cabinet meeting.
The concept of a state-driven policy comes at a time when Karnataka is questioning the Centre’s approach to regional aviation, with flight services from Shivamogga facing suspension and the state having to step in to revive operations at Kalaburagi.
Patil also pointed to examples of how there have been suspension of flight operations at 17 airports across the country, and blamed the shortcomings in the Centre’s UDAN-2 scheme. Another major focus of the policy will also be the much-debated second airport proposed for Bengaluru.
Karnataka’s minister Patil said he has plans for an independent aviation policy and one may recall this idea was first mooted and first presented by the minister in the Legislative Council in March this year. Patil said the government was studying the models followed by Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The proposed policy also comes amid demands from legislators for airports in districts such as Ballari, Koppal and Vijayanagara. Patil said the government was studying existing policies and would insist on detailed feasibility studies before taking a decision on new airport projects. He said airports could sustain operations as long as the UDAN scheme provided viability support, but would face difficulties once the assistance ended.
According to Patil, the proposed policy will lay down a framework for funding, viability gap support and management of state-owned airports, apart from strengthening regional air connectivity.
In the pitch, Karnataka will propose extending viability support under the regional connectivity scheme from three years to five years, followed by another five years of joint operations, with the Centre and the state sharing the expenditure equally.
“We had suggested extending the UDAN scheme from three years to five years, followed by another five years of joint operation by the state and Union governments, with both sharing the expenditure equally. This would have yielded better results. However, the Centre did not give due consideration to our proposal. Consequently, flight operations at 17 airports across the country have now been suspended,” Patil said.
The minister’s criticism goes beyond the suspension of flights. He has questioned the larger arrangement under which states invest heavily in airport infrastructure but eventually hand over the facilities to the Centre.
“The Centre handed over Mangaluru Airport to the Adani Group and is now moving towards privatising Hubballi Airport. The state spent Rs 1,000 crore on developing Kalaburagi Airport and handed it over to the Centre, but has not received even a single rupee in return,” he said.
The proposed policy is expected to address precisely these questions of funding and accountability—who pays for airport infrastructure, who manages it and who bears the financial burden when airlines find regional routes commercially unviable.
Patil said Karnataka had decided to manage the airports at Shivamogga, Raichur and Vijayapura on its own rather than invest thousands of crores only to transfer them to the Union Government.
The Kalaburagi experience, meanwhile, has become an example of the state’s intervention to keep regional connectivity alive. Flight services at the previously non-operational airport were restored with 80 per cent of the funding coming from the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) and the remaining 20 per cent from the state government.
On the long-pending Ballari airport proposal, Patil said the project was first mooted in 2010, following which 900 acres were acquired. The land was handed over to Chennai-based MARG Srikrishnadevaraya Airport Private Limited, which was entrusted with constructing the airport. However, the company failed to commence work within the stipulated two years, leading to the cancellation of the agreement. Tenders were invited last October to appoint consultants to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the airport. But the land acquired for the Ballari airport could not be returned. “So later it was to be utilised for industrial purposes,” Patil had said earlier.
Taking on Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra over his criticism of the state government on the suspension of flights to Shivamogga aiport, Patil challenged him to arrange similar financial support for Shivamogga Airport.
