PM greets CM with airport gift

New Delhi: Manmohan Singh today greeted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with news of progress on Calcutta airport’s modernisation but it turned out to be more a leap than a step when a crucial central clearance for the project came later in the day.
The public investment board (PIB) approved the nearly Rs 2,000-crore modernisation, which means it will now only need the stamp of the cabinet. It also possibly means the project has scaled the escalating dispute between civil aviation minister Praful Patel and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The Prime Minister gave the chief minister a second reason to smile. He said progress had been made on the East-West corridor that would link the eastern and western sides of the Hooghly with an underground railway. But there was no happy coincidence for the project, as with the airport.
Bhattacharjee, who is in Delhi to attend the CPM’s central committee meeting, also discussed the proposed deep-sea port but the Prime Minister’s response was not known.
In light of speculation that Bengal was unable to get a date from the Prime Minister whom it wanted to inaugurate a Jindal-promoted steel plant, Bhattacharjee was asked if he had carried an invitation with him.
30/05/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports May 2008