The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed disappointment over the absence of Madurai in the list of proposed international airports announced on Wednesday. Lucknow, Varanasi, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Gaya are to be declared international airports. This decision was taken at a meeting the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had with the Ministers and Secretaries of key infrastructure Ministries of Power, Roads, Shipping, Civil Aviation and Coal.
The senior president, S. Rethinavelu, and president N. Jegatheesan, in a statement, pointed out that the Madurai airport now had a high-tech world class terminal building constructed at a cost of Rs. 130 crore and a runway extended to 7500 feet to facilitate landing of international flights. The modernised airport was inaugurated in September 2010 and it was declared a customs airport on December 31, 2010. Madurai airport, the statement said, had very good potential for international passenger and freight traffic. There was scope for operation of flights to Colombo, Kula Lumpur, Singapore and the Gulf from here. Work was also on to acquire 620 acres of land to upgrade Madurai as an international airport.
The statement regretted that even after several pleas from all stakeholders, including the chamber, the Union Government had not taken any steps to provide international connectivity or include Madurai in the bilateral airport treaties with other countries. This resulted in Madurai not finding a place in the list of proposed international airports, thereby denying south Tamil Nadu industrial and economic growth.
The chamber appealed to the Members of Parliament of Tamil Nadu from the southern districts to impress upon the Prime Minister the need to declare Madurai an international airport and also commence international flights initially to Colombo and Kula Lumpur. These steps would provide enormous boost to economic, industrial and tourism development in the region.
