Friday (17 June) became another sad day for West Bengal. A single, Air India flight to Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Andal near Durgapur, the steel town of West Bengal, logged off from the airport. The withdrawal of services by the national carrier due to low passenger count, from eastern India’s first greenfield airport and India’s first aerotropolis, is yet another sad commentary on the state of economy in West Bengal.
This stoppage of services, ironically, was in the week that saw unveiling of new civil aviation policy. The new policy aims to connect regional airports and has announced a number of business-enhancing measures.
Meanwhile, the Air-India’s withdrawal of services nails the lie routinely dished out by Mamata Banerjee, that West Bengal has been receiving investments worth thousands of crores of rupees. If that were the case, many more passengers would be flying to and from Andal airport- which was meant to service West Bengal’s industrial and mining belt of Raniganj, Asansol, Durgapur and Burdwan.
In early January this year, at the state’s annual business jamboree, Mamata boasted investments to the tune of Rs 250,104 crore. She also announced that of Rs 243,000 crore investment promised last year, proposals worth Rs 95,000 crore have already materialised. But no one, including West Bengal’s Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra, is willing to spell investment details.
17/06/16 Jaideep Mazumdar/Swarajya
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This stoppage of services, ironically, was in the week that saw unveiling of new civil aviation policy. The new policy aims to connect regional airports and has announced a number of business-enhancing measures.
Meanwhile, the Air-India’s withdrawal of services nails the lie routinely dished out by Mamata Banerjee, that West Bengal has been receiving investments worth thousands of crores of rupees. If that were the case, many more passengers would be flying to and from Andal airport- which was meant to service West Bengal’s industrial and mining belt of Raniganj, Asansol, Durgapur and Burdwan.
In early January this year, at the state’s annual business jamboree, Mamata boasted investments to the tune of Rs 250,104 crore. She also announced that of Rs 243,000 crore investment promised last year, proposals worth Rs 95,000 crore have already materialised. But no one, including West Bengal’s Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra, is willing to spell investment details.
17/06/16 Jaideep Mazumdar/Swarajya
