Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing about a lot of development plans for Indore’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport. Only recently, the airport received the “international” tag and that marked a new era in the airport’s timeline. Now, the latest such development comes in the form of a planned expansion of the airport.

The planned developmental expansion of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar is huge to say the least. The airport authorities have set aside a budget of ₹3,400 crores for the expansion and they aim to achieve the feat by acquiring the area of 6 adjacent villages.

As per reports from TOI, the government will acquire a total of 1230 acres of land from the six adjoining villages. Additionally, the proposal given to them by the AAI presented them with two options- either construct one new runway or two.

The authorities went with a single runway for now. It seems that they were planning for the future as well because the runway should help the airport be sustainable at least for the next 20 years.

Currently, Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar airport spreads over an area of 750 acres of land. However, when the airport received international status, the infrastructure was expanded to cover an area of 20 acres more. The first international flight will take off from Indore on July 15.

To actually get the land from the villages next to the airport, several surveys and reconnaissances have been undertaken. The teams have earmarked Nainod Village, Kordiyabardi Village, Sirpur Village, Simhasa Village and two more, the total area of which adds up to nearly 1230 acres of land. Not to mention the area that the AAI already owns will also be put to use.

The authorities have already stated that they will compensate residents of the above mentioned villages. This will help the localites relocate to other places so that they can begin a new life.