This Article is From Dec 16, 2010

'Closing down HAL airport was a mistake,' says state's transport advisor

Bangalore: The HAL ghost has come back to haunt the government. This time, it is Ashwin Mahesh, advisor to the state government on transport, who lashed out at the authorities for closing down the HAL airport and building an international airport so far away from the heart of the city.

Addressing a gathering at the Institution of Engineers on Wednesday evening, he said, "Shutting down HAL airport was a big mistake. We underestimated the Tamil Nadu government, which is planning to build an airport in Hosur. Electronic City is fast- growing and Bangaloreans in Hosur will definitely pick the closer Hosur airport rather than travelling to the Bangalore International Airport." He said there was no problem having an international airport inside the metropolitan city.

If the HAL airport was functional, Bangaloreans would have benefited and residents of Electronic City, now eyeing the Hosur airport, would not have to go to Tamil Nadu. Talking of infrastructural lapses in Bangalore, Mahesh said, "The main problem of the city is that infrastructure is not coordinated. The only way to make things better is to start micro planning at primary levels and address city's core issues."

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