B M Farookh urges CM for development of Mangaluru Airport

coaslaldigest.com web desk

September 9, 2018

Mangaluru, Sept 9: Industrialist-turned-politician B M Farookh has exhorted the chief minister H D Kumaraswamy to give more priority for the development of Mangaluru International Airport.

In a letter to the CM, Mr Farookh, a member of Legislative Council and the chief general secretary of the JD(S), has underlined the need for the expansion of the runway of the airport.

The demand comes almost a year after the Airport Authority of India decided to indefinitely postpone the runway expansion plans and dubbed the project “unviable”. Till then, many stakeholders, including the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were hopeful of the runway expansion project so that wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing-777 and Boeing-747 could land in the airport, which would help in increasing the number of destinations/connectivity worldwide.

The existing runway, with a length of 2,450 metres, meets the requirements of Airbus 320/321 and Boeing-737 aircraft. Currently, Mangaluru is directly connected to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai with multiple daily flights in this domestic sector and Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain and Muscat in the international sector.

Infrastructure giant L & T was asked to study and submit a report on runway expansion and it had submitted four proposals - all to increase the runway length from existing 2,450 metres to 3,450 metres. However, the AAI had not shown interest in the expansion of the runway, owing to challenges, including table-top runway and high cost. The airport also needs around 36 acres of land for the runway expansion.

Mr Farookh, who also hails from Mangaluru and has business in the coastal city, has also urged the CM to talk to Civil Aviation Ministry and to bring Mangaluru under the radar of UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) regional connectivity scheme, and deploy more planes to Mangaluru.

Mangaluru was almost cut off from the rest of Karnataka with road and rail connectivity remaining affected due to closure of ghats and landslips due to heavy rains last month. Flying was the only option for few days.

It’s worth mentioning here that Mr Kumaraswamy during his visit to Mangaluru earlier this week had promised to focus more on developing Mangaluru as the hub of economic activities since it is next to Bengaluru when it comes to revenue generation in the state.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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