Patel jets around, on inauguration spree

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is a busy man these days. With the UPA government’s term coming to an end, the minister, on an average, is laying foundation stones or inaugurating terminal buildings every two hours.

All these terminal buildings are part of the 35 non-metro airports that the government has decided to upgrade and modernise by 2010.

Now note this, on Friday, Patel had a packed day as he flew down to lay foundation stones of terminal buildings at Indore, Bhopal, Raipur and Ranchi Airports. On Saturday, he inaugurated the new integrated terminal buildings of Visakhapatnam and Tiruchirapalli and also laid the foundation stone for the new terminal building at the Goa airport.

On Monday, he is scheduled to either lay foundation stones or inaugurate the terminal building at Amritsar, Dehradun, Vadodara and Surat.

“Most of these airports buildings and terminals would be ready by 2010 as per schedule,” a senior official said.