Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s 29th international airport in Kushinagar on October 20, where Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a 125-member delegation will also be present.
Notably, Kushinagar is the place where Gautam Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. PM Modi will also inaugurate an International Buddhist conclave at Parinirvana place.
The grand inauguration ceremony, which is being seen as a major conduit in the Buddhist circuit to boost tourist inflow, will be attended by Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and a host of dignitaries, including ambassadors of around 15 countries to India.
The airport will witness the arrival of its maiden international flight from Colombo with the president and a 125-member delegation accompanying him on board, including Buddhist monks and pilgrims on the occasion.
With the opening of this airport, the inflow of international tourists, as well as outbound tourism, is likely to go up by 15-20 per cent. The airport will offer a hassle-free movement to tourists to six Buddhist sites across Uttar Pradesh and in north Bihar- Kushinagar, Sarnath, Shravasti, Kesaria stupa, and Vaishali.
Earlier, the entry point for the Buddhist tourists was Kolkata, Delhi, Gaya and later Varanasi, which are situated far away from one another. Besides, due to lack of air connectivity, it was time taking and most tourists could not complete the circuit in one go. However, with the opening of the airport foreign tourists can complete their pilgrimage in considerably less time.
Spread over an area of 590 acres, the International airport boasts of world-class facilities. The eight-storied state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower built at the cost of Rs 17.5 crore, has become fully operational at the airport whereas the navigation system for safe landing and take-off of flights at the airport has also passed the trial successfully.
17/10/21 News18.com
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