Deputy Commissioner M.V. Vedamurthy has said that
construction of buildings in the radius of 4 km from the airport here
has been banned.

He was speaking at a meeting of
officials of the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure
Development Corporation and owners of industries inMachenahalli Industrial Estate on the airport project on Thursday.

He
said as the airport was likely to become operational by July 2013,
construction of new buildings here had been banned. The Shimoga Urban
Development Authority, Shimoga City Municipal Council and gram
panchayats in the notified area had been asked not to issue new licence
to construct buildings. Land within the 4 km radius could not be sold.

Mr.
Vedamurthy said that even cases related to transfer of ownership of the
land under the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board should be
brought to his notice.

Speaking at a meeting held
earlier to discuss the progress of work on the airport project, Deputy
Chief Minister K.S. Eshwarappa asked the representatives of Regional
Airport Holdings International (RAHI) Limited, promoter of the Shimoga
airport project, to complete the pending work related to the project at
the earliest.

Mr. Eshwarappa asked the
representatives to enhance the workforce at the project site and
complete the pending work soon. The representatives said that the work
on the runway had been halted owing to rain. Work would resume after
October 15. Work on a compound wall and approach roads was under
progress now.

They said that the airport would become operational by July 2013.

Mr.
Eshwarappa said that the delay in execution of work led to apprehension
among the people of the city on the completion of the project. The
Deputy Commissioner said that it had been decided to avoid shifting of
the high tension power line near the project site by extending the
runway by 500 metres.

On the shifting of ordinary
power line from the project site, officials from Karnataka Power
Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) said that Rs 4 crore was needed
for the purpose. A sum of Rs. 4.93 lakh was needed to conduct a survey
regarding shifting of the power line.

Mr. Eshwarappa
instructed the officials of KPTCL to commence the survey at the
earliest. Officials from the Karnataka State Industrial and
Infrastructure Development Corporation said that according to the
guidelines of the Director General of Civil Aviation, the chimneys of
some of the industries in Machenahalli Industrial Estate located near
the airport had to be trimmed.Mr. Eshwarappa asked the officials to hold a meeting with the industrialists in this regard.

Chief
Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat Sanjay Bijur, Additional
Deputy Commissioner M.K. Srirangaiah, and Assistant Commissioner M.L.
Vaishali were among those present.