Tharoor to take up delay in hangar work

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has expressed serious concerns over the inordinate delay in the works on the engineering hangar of Air India coming up at Chakkai.

Tharoor, who visited the construction site on Thursday, told reporters that he would take up the matter with the Centre.

Air India officials told Tharoor that the delay in completing the works of the taxi way connecting  the engineering base with the runway of the airport was one major constraint before the commissioning of the engineering base.

Tharoor said that the project assumed significance as it would boost the development of the State capital. Not only Air India, but foreign airlines would also make use of the engineering-base.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone for both the new international terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram airport and the engineering base on November 1, 2006. While the terminal building is ready for commissioning, only 75 percent works of the engineering base have been completed. The engineering base project is much small compared to the airport terminal project. Air India station manager M Jyothi Prakash briefed Tharoor about the project.

trivandrum@expressbuzz.com