A lawyer has alleged officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for corruption at Surat airport and sought an inquiry from the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Yeshwanth Shenoy in his letter, written to the chief vigilance commissioner, has alleged officials to give permission to extend the runway of Surat airport ignoring the obstacles in the funnel area of the airport.
The letter stated, "The extension of Surat runway was proposed in February 2015 because there was a big pothole right at the centre of the runway. Since re-carpeting will not be cost-effective, an extension was proposed. The reason then given was that extension of the runway will benefit the airport as it will allow larger aircraft to land. However, a number of communications were exchanged between AAI officials and the Surat airport director highlighting that no aircraft larger than the ones already approved can be operated, even if the runway is extended. Another letter written by the Executive Director Operations was written stating that action must be taken to reduce the height of obstacle before the proposed extension.
He mentioned: "The fact that the runway was extended, clearly indicates that the objections of these officers were overruled. Since ED Ops is a technical official, it can only be the Chairman of AAI and other board members who could have overruled the directions of the ED Ops and aviation safety official. Instead of accepting their blunder, they started issuing demolition notices to owners of buildings in the approach funnel. No building in the vicinity is invisible and construction takes over a few years, but the officials were quiet about this. Proper procedure should have been followed to demolish the obstacles after compensating the owners. I request you to initiate an inquiry immediately in the interest of justice."
