Chennai, March 4 : The Tamil Nadu government has commenced a process for providing 10.72 acres of land for the proposed airport at Vellore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The airport which is being built on a 97-acre plot presently has a runway, taxiway, ground handling equipment, air traffic control (ATC) and aviation information receiving facility, terminal building and oil depot. However, the land acquisition process was holding up the commissioning of the new airport as the state government has not taken any decision on the compensation package for acquiring land. The government has now speeded up the process and sources told IANS that the movement for acquiring 10.72 acres of additional land required for the airport has commenced. The new airport was sanctioned at Vellore under the second phase of the UDAN-RCS (Ude Desh Ke Aam Nagrik-A Regional Connectivity Scheme) some years ago. This move by the government of India is intended to connect smaller towns, especially those close to metropolitan cities and two-tier cities. The new airport at Vellore will be a boon for the patients who are reaching the prestigious Christian Medical College, Vellore as also for students studying Ain several technical institutions in the city, many of whom are from North Indian states. However, the recent announcement by a private aircraft operator that it would operate a nineteen-seater aircraft is considered as the sudden reason for spurt in activities for the Vellore airport including land acquisition. Notably, the last high-profile visit to Vellore airport was of General V.K. Singh in October 2022 who is the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. /IANS