Taj international airport project hits MoD hurdle

“Our plea is that since the selection of the site had been so difficult, the state government can provide them the required land elsewhere in the vicinity, which would not obstruct the air traffic,” added Saran.

Another objection raised by the MoD is that the proposed airport site is barely 25-30 km from the existing airforce station in Kheria area of Agra district.

A senior officer said, “The proposed site is parallel to the existing airstrip of defence in Agra, which would mean that the air-funnel of both the airstrip would converge only at a distance of 180 km. With unified air traffic controller, we can have dropping zones in different directions.”

Sources said proximity to the Gwalior Airforce station in Madhya Pradesh is also mentioned in the MoD letter.
Among the many reasons why the state government is pushing for the proposed site is the fact that out of the estimated 3,700 acres required for the project, about 1,200 acres is already available in the form of “degraded forest land” with another 500 acres being government-owned.

Further, the site is also quite far from the Taj Trapezium Zone, Mathura Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan – as proximity to any of these could have created hurdles. The project cannot be moved towards Greater Noida as it has to maintain a distance of 150 km from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.