The Tamil Nadu Government is in the process of handing over land to the Airports Authority of India for expansion of airports in many of the towns and cities.

Moving the demand for grants to the Transport Minister, the Minister, Mr V. Senthil Balaji, tabled the policy note for 2011-12 which said the Government is taking action to provide land in Coimbatore, Madurai and Tuticorin for the airports expansion. The AAI's request for land in Tiruchi and Salem to expand and modernise those airports are under consideration.

The State Transport Department, the nodal agency at the Centre for Railways, Civil Aviation, Postal and Telecommunication, has reviewed the ongoing expansion and modernisation work at the Chennai Airport and has asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to expedite the works.

The Government, which has announced plans to set up a 111-km monorail network in Chennai to be expanded to 300 km, has exploring the option of setting up the mono rail system in Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi.

The policy note also spelt out plans for a public private partnership to develop the lands available with the Transport Corporations to upgrade the facilities at the depots and generate commercial space.

There are eight State Transport undertakings with a fleet strength of 21,169 buses that carry 2.10 crore passengers daily. In the Chennai metropolitan area alone, over 55 lakh passengers travel by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation daily.

Tamil Nadu is among the cheapest in terms of public transport for the commuters with the fare per kilometre at Rs 28 for mofussil, basic services, increasing up to Rs 85 for air conditioned buses. The fares have remained unchanged since December 2001. Comparatively, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka, as of mid-2011 charge Rs 43-50 for the mofussil services.

In Kerala and Karnataka passengers are charged Rs 90 and Rs 124.50 respectively for the air conditioned buses.

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