Ministry of Defence Cancels Site Clearance For Pune International Airport In Purandar?

Sumit Singh
Pune, 5th January 2021: It seems the dream of Puneites to have a bigger international airport is decades away.

According to Sudhir Mehta, president of Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has cancelled the site clearance for the proposed international airport in Purandar taluka.

“It appears that the site clearance for the proposed Pune Airport at the new location in Purandar has been cancelled by the MOD which effectively means that the project is dead. Request the state govt to clarify about plans for a new airport at Pune ??”, Mehta tweeted.

However, officials in Pune including District Collector Rajesh Deshmukh and Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke told PunekarNews.in that they are not aware of any such decision yet. Pune MP Girish Bapat, who is the chairman of airport advisory committee, could not be contacted for his statement.

However, a letter dated 31st December 2021 written by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindhia to Bapat states, “As far as a new international airport in Pune region is concerned, the State Government of Maharashtra, through Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd. (MADC) had submitted a proposal to MoCA for grant of ‘Site Clearance’ for a new Greenfield airport at Purandar in Pune, MoCA granted ‘site clearance’ to the State Government on 09.05.2018. However, due to issues regarding land acquisition, the State Government reviewed the proposal and resubmitted an application for a new site 10 Km away from the earlier site at Purandar. The proposal was examined in consultation with the nodal Ministries/Organizations i.e. Ministry of Defence, AAl and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as per the Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008. Although MoD had given the NOC on 12-08-2021 with certain conditions for the new proposed site, later it cancelled the NOC, vide their communication dated 29-09-2021. This has been communicated to the State Government.”

Here we go again 🙁 … Two decades later, we still have not identified a viable piece of land (let alone acquire it…) for the proposed new #Pune Airport!

cc @CMOMaharashtra @PMOIndia @JM_Scindia @rajnathsingh https://t.co/2djeuWqQZE

— Amit Paranjape (@aparanjape) January 5, 2022

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