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Airport expands

a plan to upgrade the Sanganer airport in Jaipur to the status of international airport is facing stiff oppositions. It is feared that the plan's flawed design could affect at least 72 colonies in the vicinity of the airport.

The residents staged a road blockade along the Jaipur-Kota highway, in the first week of April, and demanded the Airport Authority of India (aai) and the Union ministry of aviation to reconsider the plan design. The aai' s plan to construct a new terminal on the existing airport and make it an international airport requires acquisition of 57 hectares (ha). The city administration has already initiated action in this regard and issued notice to the residents. "But around 57 ha of land is lying unused with aai at the existing airport,' says J L Bhargav, a parliamentarian from Jaipur.

In December 2005, the Union civil aviation minister, Praful Patel, had announced the upgradation of the Jaipur airport, as it meets all the requisite criteria. But on February 2006, the ministry issued a notification to upgrade Sanganer airport and make it the 14 th international airport in the country.

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