Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urges centre to include Bhubaneswar in Draft Aviation Policy as an International Airport. On this regard CM Patnaik writes a letter to Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. CM Patnaik in his letter said that, “I would like to thank you for drawing our attention to the Draft Aviation Policy of the Union Government and inviting our comments. Despite the fact that the Union Cabinet had declared Bhubaneswar as an International Airport, the Policy does not provide for International Airport at Bhubaneswar. The Airports Authority of India and the State Government have already spent public money on the construction of an international airport at Bhubaneswar. People in Odisha are dismayed at the exclusion of Bhubaneswar from the list of proposed international airports in the country.” CM Patnaik further added that, “The six metros, which are proposed to act as hubs, will witness expansion of economic activity. These metros are already suffering from high levels of pollution and traffic congestion. Confining the idea of hubs to only six airports will be retrogressive and uneconomical as aircrafts have to wait in queues in the sky to be given space in busy airports for landing. Excess fuel is burnt, air is polluted and precious time is lost for everyone. The airlines spend more in operating from busy airports due to high congestion and the travellers bear avoidable inconvenience of baggage transfer and change of flights. There is a need to immediately shift focus to other cities like Bhubaneswar that have surplus capacities which can be leveraged without additional social, economic and ecological costs.”
14/12/14 Odisha Diary
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14/12/14 Odisha Diary
