Civil Enclave to come up near Ambala Air Force Station

Ambala, September 2

With the Haryana Government likely to get possession of a 20-acre defence land adjacent to the Air Force Station in Ambala Cantonment next week, the wait for a civil enclave, which has been hanging fire since 2018, is expected to end soon.

The government today also accorded administrative approval to release over Rs 133 crore to the Defence Estate Officer, Ambala, for the purchase of the defence land from the Ministry of Defence for the establishment of the civil enclave.

Project okayed under Udan 3.0 scheme

• In December 2018, the civil airport project was approved under the Udan 3.0 scheme by the Centre.
• In 2019, routes of Srinagar and Lucknow were awarded to an airlines by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the flights were expected to start from July 15, 2020, but it did not happen.
• Later, land next to the Air Force Station was identified for the terminal, and in 2021, Rs 40 crore was approved by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for the construction of a domestic terminal.

In June, the Ministry of Defence had given approval for the transfer of land, for which Rs 133 crore were sought from the Haryana Government. The runway of the Air Force will be used for the project.

Home Minister Anil Vij said, “All permissions have been granted by the government for the project and an administrative approval has also been accorded to transfer Rs 133 crore for the land. The process was initiated to transfer the amount from the treasury. We are hopeful that the aviation department will get possession of the land within a week.

“To start the operations, until the new terminal for the civil enclave is not constructed, it has been decided to renovate an existing abandoned building at a cost of Rs 16 crore, for which the tender had already been floated. All bookings, security checks and other formalities will be completed at the temporary terminal. Passengers will be taken to the Air Force Station in a bus, from where they will board a plane,” he said.

The Air Force had provided space for the plane. While one route for Srinagar had been finalised, another route for Varanasi was likely to be allotted to Ambala. “After getting two routes operational, we will try to get more routes from Ambala,” Vij stated.