The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : India is fastest growing nation in aviation: Patel

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Saturday, Mar 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

India is fastest growing nation in aviation: Patel

Special Correspondent

Country registered 25 p.c annual growth rate

Praful Patel

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel on Friday said by registering 25 per cent annual compounded growth rate during the last four years, India has become the fastest growing country in aviation sector.

Speaking after the UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the new international airport at Shamshabad, near here, Mr. Patel said air travel facility has to reach the last district in the country and if this is to be achieved, airport infrastructure needs to be developed much like former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated C-DOT, revolutionised telecommunication sector, he said.

It has to be noted that intense development of aviation sector would lead to drastic reduction in physical distance, he said. This in turn would help in exporting horticulture crops grown around small towns like Nasik and fetch better prices for the farmers.

Mrs. Gandhi too hailed the Government for its highest plan expenditure in the country and for building a “wonderful airport”.

But she wanted the Government to find ways of helping the families who have lost land to the airport. The naming of the expressway after P. V. Narasimha Rao was befitting as it was under his Prime Ministership that the economy had undergone rapid transformation.

Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said Ms. Gandhi would be invited again in few months for the inauguration of world-class ports at Gangavaram near Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam near Nellore.

Referring to the concerns expressed over connectivity from city centre to the new airport, he said passengers would have to bear for two or three more months. “The Government will no stone unturned in completing the works”.

G. Mallikarjuna Rao, chairman of the GMR group, said the airport was a blend of best airports in the world including Singapore, Hong Long, Frankfurt and Dubai.

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