Hyderabad: Questioning the Congress’ attempts to claim credit for the revival of Mamnoor airport, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Wednesday asked why the party had failed to remove hurdles to the project when it was in power at the Centre. He said that the long-pending airport became a reality only because of the Narendra Modi govt’s intervention.Addressing the media at the BJP state office in Nampally, Rao said the biggest obstacle to operationalising the Warangal airport was the 150-km exclusivity clause under the Hyderabad International Airport concession agreement. He claimed that the Modi govt secured a one-time waiver to the restriction, paving the way for the revival of Mamnoor airport, one of the country’s oldest airfields dating back to the pre-Independence era.Rao said the Centre’s efforts were part of its broader push to improve regional air connectivity through the UDAN scheme, which has expanded air services to smaller cities across the country. Referring to the Congress-led UPA govt, he said plans had been drawn up in 2011 to develop 13 airports, including Warangal, but the projects remained on paper. Of those, seven airports became operational only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office, he claimed.The BJP leader said former Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had written to the Telangana chief minister in Sept 2021, seeking intervention to expedite aviation infrastructure projects in the state, including the Warangal airport. Drawing a parallel with the Centre’s recent allocation of the Tadicherla-II coal block to SCCL, Rao said the Union govt had consistently supported Telangana’s development. Appealing to chief minister A Revanth Reddy, Rao urged the state govt to expedite land acquisition so that work on the airport could progress without delays.
