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Flight resumption: Bathinda airport’s water supply project fails to take-off
As routine passenger air service from Bathinda Airport is likely to resume after a gap of over two years, the only airport in south Malwa continues to be without a safe drinking water supply since 2016.
BATHINDA As routine passenger air service from Bathinda Airport is likely to resume after a gap of over two years, the only airport in south Malwa continues to be without a safe drinking water supply since 2016.
As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the Punjab government was to provide clean water at the airport.
Information says the project is stuck as the Punjab government is looking for financial support from the World Bank to provide the basic amenity.
Since its operations in 2016, the water provided to the airport is unfit for human consumption due to the high total dissolved solids (TDS) count.
Sources said the water project for the civil aviation terminal is estimated to be less than ₹ 2 crore.
Officials said in January 2022, the state water resources department prepared a plan under which the clean water supply is scheduled to be augmented from Virk Kalan village.
But the project is kept waiting for a want of funds from the WB.
“We have repeatedly apprised the state authorities about hardships faced in the absence of safe water,” the director of Bathinda airport Rakesh Rawat said on Monday.
Sources said the airport is dependent on the Indian Air Force station in the vicinity to meet its daily need for water.
Set up at a cost of ₹ 5 crore at Virk Kalan village, about 30 km from Bathinda city, the airport witnessed four chief ministers since Parkash Singh Badal when it was inaugurated during the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party regime but the airport did not see any headway in the water supply project.
AIR CONNECTIVITY After a hiatus of two years, Bathinda is likely to see air connectivity with NCR soon.
Airport Authority of India (AAI) grated a letter of award (LAO) to Flybig, a new private aviation player, for a flight between Bathinda to Hindon in Ghaziabad.
“LAO was issued in September last year and we have yet to get an update from the airways when it could start operations,” said the Bathinda airport director.
Alliance Air (AA), the sole service provider from Bathinda, discontinued services on the Delhi route on November 28, 2020, whereas flights to Jammu were suspended on October 27, 2019, after its contract expired.
ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE: The airport authority favours direct access of about 7 km road of the aviation terminal to the highway.
“Issue of better road and clean drinking water gets attention again as Bathinda is likely to get air connectivity again soon,” said Rawat.
A government functionary admitted that the Virk Kalan airport is used by VIPs, including the governor, and chief minister and the resumption of domestic flights demand key amenities for the airport users.
“The present rural link road to the airport is insufficient,” he added.
Bathinda deputy commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said on Monday that clean water supply is a priority project and it will be executed soon after getting funds from WB.
“Direct road access requires the land acquisition and the project is in its infancy,” said the DC.
