Lucknow. Five districts of Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Sonbhadra will soon be connected by air service. A contract (MoU) was signed between the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the state government on Friday in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the Lok Bhavan for the operation and management of the airport being developed in these districts under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Now the process of licensing of these airports will start. Soon air service will start from all these five places.
The state government will develop these five airports of Uttar Pradesh and operate and manage them as a service provider. The contract letter was exchanged between Additional Chief Secretary Civil Aviation SP Goyal and AAI President AK Pathak. In this sequence, the assets and capital works of the five airports are being transferred to AAI. After the contract, the process of licensing of these airports will be done and soon the air service will start from the five airports.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that these airports are being set up in such areas which were left behind due to some reasons in the race for development. Shravasti, Sonbhadra and Chitrakoot are aspirational districts. The development of these areas will get wings due to air connectivity from here. Five years ago people were afraid of the name of Azamgarh. Today we are going to provide air service there.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that earlier we took Purvanchal Expressway from the middle of Azamgarh. No one opposed it, people volunteered to give land for the expressway. Aligarh is world famous for hardware. An important node of the Defense Corridor is being developed here. Chitrakoot is not only a part of the Ramayana circuit, it is also its focal point. Here the airport is being built on top of the hill.
After attaining enlightenment, Lord Buddha spent most of the Chaturmas of his life in Sravasti. The son of Lord Rama is said to have settled Shravasti and made it his capital. Sonbhadra, once affected by Naxalism, is the cradle of tribal groups of the country. Naturally beautiful and full of natural resources. It is most important from the point of view of mining in Uttar Pradesh.
The Chief Minister also directed to develop all these airports according to the standards of Airbus A-320. In this regard, the Airport Authority of India has been directed to complete the survey process soon and take further action regarding purchase of land.
CM Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh has made very good progress in air service connectivity in the last five years. Before 2017, only two airports in Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow and Varanasi were fully functional. The airports of Gorakhpur and Agra were partially functional. Today, nine airports are functional in Uttar Pradesh, through which air service can be received for 75 districts of the country. Apart from these, the government is working on ten more airports.
Before 2017 there was an air service from Gorakhpur to Delhi. Today there are 14 air services in Gorakhpur. This has given a new impetus to the development of Gorakhpur. Airport Authority prepared the airport for Prayagraj Kumbh in less than 11 months. Along with the development, the airport also plays a big role in the promotion of tourism. When Uttar Pradesh is taking forward the ‘One District, One Product’ scheme to encourage its traditional enterprise, then air connectivity matters a lot for the state.
The Chief Minister said that at present three international airports are functional in the state at Lucknow, Varanasi and Kushinagar. Apart from these, an international airport is being developed on PPP mode in Jewar area of Gautam Buddha Nagar district. The Airport Authority of India has been entrusted with the responsibility of building the International Airport in Ayodhya. On completion of their construction, UP will be the first state in the country to have five international airports.