On Wednesday, the government of Maharashtra ordered the release of Rs 52.70 crore funds for the land acquisition process to be carried out for the expansion of Kolhapur airport.

Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Deepak Kapoor told media that the company has received the order from the state government freeing up Rs 52.70 CR for Kolhapur Airport land acquisition. This will greatly help speed up the expansion work at Kolhapur Airport.

In April, the state government allocated Rs 212.25 crore for the land acquisition process.

The decision was made at a high-level meeting led by Maharashtra's chief secretary, Manukumar Shrivastav. In order to carry out the expansion works of the airport, a site of 25.91 hectares has to be purchased.

The director of Kolhapur airport, Kamal Katariya, told media that for the runway expansion, the land purchase is very essential.

A frequent flyer from Kolhapur, Sandeep Shinde, told media that this is good news for all of South Maharashtra, a fully operational Kolhapur airport is needed for the overall development of the South MH Sangli-Karad-Satara-Kolhapur belt. A training school at the current Karad airport is another good decision.

Kolhapur district is developing in the fields of tourism, arts, commerce, education, culture, technology and agriculture with new opportunities emerging, and the expansion of the airport will strengthen its future development.

The direct flight service from Kolhapur airport is currently targeting Tirupati, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

IndiGo airlines will resume Kolhapur-Ahmedabad flight service three times a week from June 3.