Nagarjunasagar may get water aerodrome facility

HYDERABAD: The Union ministry of civil aviation has identified Nagarjunasagar as one of the 10 locations for setting up water aerodromes, as part of Phase 3 of UDAN, a regional airport development scheme.
Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha informed the Rajya Sabha that the water aerodromes were chosen based on a pre-feasibility study carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of Airports Authority of India.
A water aerodrome is an area of open water where seaplanes or amphibious aircraft can land and take off.
The ministry will call for bids for water aerodromes under the 3rd round of Regional Connectivity Scheme. Apart from Nagarjunasagar, sites include Statue of Unity at Sardar Sarovar Dam, Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad and two more sites in Gujarat, two in Assam, two in Maharashtra and one in Uttarakhand.
An airstrip already exists in Nagarjunasagar on the Guntur side since 1955, when it was developed during the dam construction.
It is now unused and efforts to revive it has remained on paper for years. The AP government wanted to develop the area for tourism purposes, but it is yet to fructify.
Several Buddhist sites which attract international tourists are located near Nagarjunakonda. The central government has now chosen to set up a water aerodrome instead of reviving the airstrip. Water aerodrome operations shall obtain clearances from the ministry of defence, home affairs, forest and environment, shipping, irrigation and the local revenue authority. Night operations will not be allowed in water aerodromes.
Reacting to the development, defence historian KS Nair told STOI, “During World War II, the British built around 200 airstrips in a year in India. After Independence, the government stopped using these airstrips. As the economy is growing, there was a proposal to revive at least 80 of these airstrips, but it didn’t take off. Historically, India has water aerodromes. The HAL Old Bengaluru airport is originally in Bellandur Lake. Seaplanes used to land there. Karachi in British India had one such water aerodrome where seaplanes landed and took off. Madras Red Hills Lake had one such seaplane facility.”
Telangana engineer-inchief Ch Muralidhar said, “We have no information on the proposal of water aerodrome in Nagarjunasagar from the state government.”
Nagarjunasagar dam construction started in 1956 and completed in 1967. It is the largest and highest masonry dam in the world. The total length of the dam is 15,956 feet (4,863 mts) with a full storage capacity of 408.24 tmc and live storage of 202.47 tmc and the water spread area of the dam is 285 sq. km.