Ministers’ statements stir confusion over Kalaburagi Airport

Kalaburagi: Statements issued by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and minister of state for civil Aviation VK Singh have created confusion in Kalyan Karnataka region on whether the Kalaburagi airport has a night landing facility (NLF) or not.
On March 23, Scindia said in the Lok Sabha that the Kalaburagi airport already has a night landing facility.
However, his deputy Singh said on March 31 that the facility is not there yet.
When contacted, Kalaburagi MP Umesh Jadhav said he had met Scindia after his reply in Lok Sabha.
“Scindia clarified that his statement was by mistake and added that the construction of NLF was going on at Kalaburagi. Material for NLF work has also arrived at Kalaburagi airport and people need not be worried. Scindia has affirmed that NLF will be made functioning soon," he said.
But the two different statements have people in the region, who expect international flights to land here, worried.
Sunil Kulkarni, the president of the Kalyana Karnataka Grahakara Vedike, said: “Actually, Kalaburagi MP Umesh Jadhav had asked it in Lok Sabha in September 2020. He had got a reply that the NLF will be launched by December 2020. The irony is that the Union government is not sure about the availability of NLF at Kalaburagi.”
Muttanna Nadageri, the founder and president of Kalyana Naadu Vikasa Vedike, said the NLF was needed so that Kalaburagi airport can have international flights for people in the region and to decongest traffic at Hyderabad Airport. “After Mangaluru, Kalaburagi has the highest number of people who work in the Gulf countries. If the NLF is available and international flights are facilitated here, people can stop travelling to Hyderabad or Mumbai,” he said.
Kulkarni added that if the NLF is available at Kalaburagi airport, the government should start night flight service from Bengaluru.