Big infrastructure push in Uttar Pradesh, plan for an airport in each division
To boost air connectivity and fuel growth, the Uttar Pradesh government has set a target to build the maximum number of airports in the country, director of the UP civil aviation department Surendra Singh said on Wednesday, adding at least one airport will come in each division in the state.
“The aviation sector, one of the major catalysts for growth and development, is not limited only to the Noida airport but UP bhief minister Yogi Adityanath’s vision is to develop this sector across Uttar Pradesh. To make sure that happens, the government has planned to make at least one airport in each division. There are 18 divisions in the state and we have a vision to ready 20 airports in the next two to three years to boost air connectivity,” Singh said.
Singh visited the Noida International airport Limited office in Greater Noida’s sector Omega-I, where the concessionaire agreement for the Noida International Greenfield airport proposed at Jewar was signed with Zurich International.
In Western UP alone, the government has decided to build an airport each in Saharanpur, Meerut, Aligarh, Noida and Muradabad.
“We are likely to acquire land for the Meerut airport project and work will begin soon. In Western UP, work will begin soon for the Saharanpur, Meerut, Aligarh, Noida and Muradabad airports. Hindon has already started operations. Besides we have planned airports in Eastern UP cities such as Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Sonbhadra, Shravasti and Ayodhya. We acquired 78 acres land for an airport in Bundelkhand’s Lalitpur division and land is to be acquired for an airport in Jhansi division. Nobody ever thought of providing air connectivity to these cities,” Singh said.
In the temple town Ayodhya, the UP government already has 200 acres of land and another 400 acres are being acquired to set up an international airport there, Singh said. The Kushinagar airport is likely to start its first flight by the end of October.
“We plan to start work in Azamgarh, Shravasti, Muradabad and Aligarh by March 2021. In 2016, UP had only 37 flights daily and now in 2020, there are 63 daily flights. We are focusing on air connectivity to boost growth and bring development,” Singh said.
