Development of Greenfield International Airport at Shirdi

Overview Location General Information Infrastructure and Way Forward Status of Approvals

Overview

Maharashtra state is an abode for many saints and is appropriately also called as "Santanchi Bhoomi" or the Land of Saints. Sai baba is one of the most prominent saints from Maharashtra. Shirdi is one of the popular religious towns in the state of Maharashtra. It has been incorporated as one of the holy places in the world's map of pilgrimage and is the second highest donation receiving temple after Tirupati Balaji in India.
Shirdi acquired its religious importance due to it being the residence place of the famous saint Shri Sai Baba, who was not born there but resided there from an early age. The local villagers gradually developed faith in him and Shirdi and Saibaba became known to many. He renounced the materialistic world on the day of Dussera and his Samadhi was built in the Wada where he used to stay. The Wada has been converted to a temple and forms the epicentre of the Shirdi. There is a trust called the Sai Sansthan which takes care of the Temple activities.
The floating population of Shirdi is 1 lakh per day approximately which will increase to 1.3 to 1.5 laks per day approximately during weekends and festivals.
Considering this heavy inflow of Devotees and to promote the religious tourism further in the State and to promote Industrial & commercial growth, Government of Maharashtra vide GR. 23.07.2008.planned to develop Green field International airport at Kakdi village and entrusted MADC as a Special Purpose Authority for the development.
MADC has prepared a master plan to develop the Green Field International Airport at Shirdi in phases. In the Phase-I, it is being developed only for Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations from Dawn to Dusk for Private use. In the Phase-II, the airport will be developed for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations on round the clock basis for Public use i.e. for scheduled flights.