24.1.14

Of 9 airports for Uttar Pradesh....

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, at one go, has conferred nine airports to Uttar Pradesh (UP), his home state, which also sends the largest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. Of the nine planned airports, the one in Fursatganj in Amethi, the constituency of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, costs Rs.750 crore. The remaining eight airfields which will come up in the cities of Meerut, Moradabad, Bareilly, Faizabad, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra and Etawah and will cost Rs.1,280 crore to the exchequer.
The proposal for eight airports was cleared by the ministry a fortnight ago, whereas the one for Fursatganj got the nod last week. Four of these airports are in western UP, the electoral battlefield of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), led by Ajit Singh.
Ajit Singh said airports do not get you votes. “Airports help in improving the GDP of states and do not get votes. My focus is to uplift the state,” the minister said. The nine places are small cities; some even without proper road connectivity.
The ministry of civil aviation said the approval for airports was granted after conducting a detailed study. “A nationwide study was carried out by an independent agency and 100 sites were identified. The eight airports were given the go ahead on the basis of the report,” said a senior officer of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The airports of Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur and Bareilly are currently with the army or the air force. The rest are brownfields of the AAI. “All the four airports will come up at an estimated cost of Rs.150-175 crore each,” the officer said.
The ministry has also given its approval for the expansion of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy into a full-fledged airport. The first national Aviation University is also set to come up at Fursatganj.
Ajit Singh had been pursuing the matter with the state government since 2012. “It has taken me almost two years to get the approval. I have done my bit for the state, the rest is for the state to do,” the minister said.

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