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PM unveils Goa airport, ‘11 stars’ for Mahagrowth
Unveiling the first phase of the new international airport in North Goa’s Mopa, the Prime Minister said it will be named Manohar International Airport, dedicated to former Goa chief minister and defence minister Manohar Parrikar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the first phase of the Mopa greenfield international airport in Goa, hours after he unveiled a host of development projects in Maharashtra that he termed as “11 stars” that will add to the growth of the state.
Unveiling the first phase of the new international airport in North Goa’s Mopa, the Prime Minister said it will be named Manohar International Airport, dedicated to former Goa chief minister and defence minister Manohar Parrikar.
“I am pleased that this airport is named after my dear friend and Goa’s beloved late Dr. Manohar Parrikar. It will be called Manohar International airport,” Modi said, while addressing the audience in Mopa on Sunday. The airport was earlier called the Mopa International Airport.
The first phase of the ₹2,870 crore Mopa airport project will cater to around 4.4 million passengers per annum (MPPA), which can be expanded to a saturation capacity of 33 MPPA, an official told news agency PTI.
Modi said the inauguration of the airport was one of the ways to thank the people of the state for their love. “I used to repeat myself every time when I came here (in Goa) and used to assure that I will return your love with interest in the form of development and the inauguration of this airport is one of the efforts to do so,” Modi said.
Modi was accompanied by Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant.
Before the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in the state, Modi said, the approach taken by previous ruling parties towards infrastructure development was focused more on vote banks than people’s requirements due to which crores of rupees were unnecessarily spent.
A long-pending demand of not only the people of Goa but also others was that the city needed a second airport, Modi said, adding that the airport was planned when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power in from 1998 to 2004.
“But after him, no efforts were made, and the project was delayed. However, in 2014, overcoming the difficulties, we restarted the process and six years ago, I laid the foundation stone of this airport,” he said. The airport’s foundation was laid in November 2016.
Currently, the airport will be able to handle four million passengers annually, which will be subsequently extended to 35 million passengers, according to GMR officials. This airport, Modi said, will not only benefit tourists but also establish itself as a cargo hub.
This airport is an example of a changed thinking and approach towards airport infrastructure, he said.
Scindia said a “double-engine government” will always spur development. “For the first time in the country, two airports have been established in a city. Under the previous government, not even a single airport was constructed in a year. A double-engine government would always lead to development.”
The PM also attended the 9th World Ayurveda Congress in Goa, where he inaugurated three Ayurveda institutes to be set up across the country, including in the coastal state. As many as 30 countries in the world have given recognition to Ayurveda as a traditional system of medicine, and our aim is to popularise it further across the globe, the Prime Minister said at the function.
The three institutes inaugurated were All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM), Ghaziabad and National Institute of Homoeopathy (NIH), Delhi.
During his visit to Nagpur in Maharashta earlier in the day, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone and inaugurated projects worth ₹75,000 crore, and outlined the “11 stars” that would give a new direction to Maharashtra’s growth.
“The 11 different development projects inaugurated today will give a new direction to Maharashtra’s growth. It’s proof of how fast the double-engine government in Maharashtra and at the Centre is working. The 11 different development projects inaugurated today will give a new direction to Maharashtra’s growth,” PM Modi said while addressing a gathering in Nagpur.
“The first is Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, second Nagpur AIIMS, third is National Institute of One Health, fourth is ICMR research centre in Chandrapur, fifth is CPET Chandrapur, the project which has been started to reduce the pollution in Nagpur’s Naag river, seventh is the inauguration of Nagpur phase 1 and foundation stone laying of phase 2,” Modi said.
“Eighth is Vande Bharat Express between Nagpur and Bilaspur, ninth is a redevelopment project of Nagpur and Ajni railway station, the tenth is the inauguration of maintenance depot of rail engine of 12,000 horsepower in Ajni and eleventh is the inauguration of Koli-Narked route in Nagpur-Itarsi,” the Prime Minister added.
“The projects which have been inaugurated today show a holistic vision of infrastructural development. AIIMS is one kind of infrastructure and Samriddhi Mahamarg is another kind of infrastructure. Vande Bharat and Nagpur Metro are two different kinds of the character of infrastructure,” he said.
He flagged off India’s sixth Vande Bharat Express that will run on the Bilaspur-Nagpur route.
After flagging off the Vande Bharat Express, PM Modi purchased a metro ticket as he launched Phase I of the Nagpur Metro. The PM interacted with students and locals in the train. He also laid the foundation stone of ₹500-crore Nagpur Metro phase II project at Khapri, an outskirt of Nagpur city.
“I would like to congratulate the people of Nagpur on the inauguration of the Nagpur Metro’s Phase 1. Flagged off two metro trains and also took a ride on the metro. The metro is comfortable and convenient,” PM Modi tweeted. PM Modi also interacted with various travellers who were also on board.
“Interesting interactions on board the Nagpur Metro,” the Prime Minister tweeted sharing pictures of his interaction with people.
In the field of health infrastructure, the Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation AIIMS, Nagpur and the National Institute of One Health (NIOH).
The hospital has been developed at a cost of around ₹1,575 crore with state-of-the-art facilities, out patient departments, in-patient departments, diagnostic services, operation theatres and 38 departments covering all major speciality and super speciality subjects of medical science. The hospital would cater largely to the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Raosaheb Danve were present on the occasion.
With inputs by Pradip Kumar Maitra in Nagpur
