Koraput: Flight service from the Jeypore airstrip is expected to start from March.

"The Jeypore airstrip is a small one as compared to the other ones in the state. However, after the first phase of expansion, which is expected to be completed before March, small aircraft will start plying from here," said Ashok Meena, special secretary of the general administration department.

As part of the expansion plan of the six-decade-old airstrip, the runway width is being expanded to 23 metres from the current 15 metres. A boundary wall and a new terminal will be also constructed, said an official of the local public works department.

"We have acquired 14 acres of private land and around 20 acres of government land has been made available for the second phase expansion of the aircraft. After the second phase expansion is complete, big aircraft can land here," said sub-collector of Jeypore C.S. Rathore.

The Jeypore airstrip has been included in the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik scheme and flight services from Jeypore to Bhubaneswar was scheduled to start from September 2017. It missed the September deadline.

Executive engineer PWD (Jeypore) Tapan Kumar Panigrahi said a budget of Rs 72 crore has been prepared for the second phase expansion of the airstrip and the proposal has been sent to the government for approval.

Spread over 60 acres, the Jeypore airstrip became functional in 1962 during the inception of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Sunabeda.

In the mid 1980s, an 18-seater Vayudoot flight started plying from here to Bhubaneswar but after two years, it stopped service. The airstrip is now used only for VVIP visits.

Cop suspended

A police constable was suspended on Friday on the charge of negligence in duty that led an undertrial prisoner to escape from custody. Saroj Das, the constable, has been suspended after an inquiry had found him guilty, said sub-divisional police officer Rajib Lochan Panda. The prisoner had been produced in court here last week for trial.