In Kerala, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to strengthen the entire runway of the Karipur airport at a cost of Rs 40 crore. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Minister of State for Civil Aviation KC Venugopal in New Delhi on July 18, following repeated incidents of development of cracks on the runway. The meeting discussed the report prepared by TS Chandramouli, Executive Director (Engineering) of Airport Authority of India (AAI), who led the technical team that examined the runway on July 16.
As per per the report, development of cracks and peeling off of runway surface has been attributed to heavy monsoon showers. Venugopal said that as per the report of the technical team, there was no safety threat for the runway. He said the government would allot Rs 3 crore for immediate repair of the runway.