Jewar airport, Mayawati’s dream project, shelved

The Uttar Pradesh government has shelved its plan to build an airport at Jewar in Greater Noida.

Because of the central government’s stand that an airport cannot come up within 150 km of the Delhi airport, the state government is exploring possibilities to set up the facility either at Agra or Mathura.

State’s industrial development commissioner Anil Kumar Gupta told Hindustan Times from Lucknow, “If the Centre cannot allow it, we cannot keep waiting.” The private builders who have been developing residential and institutional complexes along the Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway, highlighted the proposed airport to lure buyers and investors.

“I had booked a villa with the hope that the airport will come up at Jewar,” said Ajit Gehrotra, a businessman who has to make regular foreign trips. “Now I will buy an apartment in Gurgaon near the Delhi airport,”he added.

Industry bodies have expressed concern over the shelving of the airport project. Association of Greater Noida Industries general secretary PP Sharma said, “The project would have attracted investment along the Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway.”

The project was mooted in 1993. During their respective tenures as chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati went all out to get the project cleared by the Centre, but to no avail.