Airport in the offing near Guruvayoor temple

GURUVAYOOR - A new airport is all set to come up near the famed Guruvayoor temple in Kerala to facilitate the thousands of devotees, said an official Saturday.

Speaking to IANS, Guruvayoor legislator K.V. Abdul Khader said a four-member high level official delegation from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Saturday visited the four sites identified as probable places for building of a new airport, suitable for small aircraft to operate.

“Being the local legislator, I also went with the expert team. We went to four places and now they have to submit a feasibility report after taking into consideration the wind conditions and other technical aspects,” said Khader.

The Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple has become one of the most important places of worship for Hindus.

Presently the nearest airport is at Kochi and it takes three hours to reach the temple. If the airport proposal gets the nod then it would take a 15-minute drive from the proposed site to the temple.

“A committee consisting of the local Lok Sabha member, the chairman of the Guruvayoor Devasom, myself and a few others are meeting to discuss the feasibility report, which will be submitted next week by the AAI officials,” said Khader.

“Around 400 acres of land would be required and we want the project to come up under the public-private partnership model, similar to the Cochin airport. The team also visited a site of the Guruvayoor Devasom located neat the Chavakad beach for operating a helicopter service. They will submit their report on this too,” added Khader.