Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari sought a thrust for Visakhapatnam airport development by paving way for 24-hour operation at the airport by creating the necessary posts.
Ms. Purandeswari, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, said that the operations at Visakhapatnam airport were managed by the Indian Navy and recently a proposal for creation of additional posts was sent from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Finance. However, the Finance Ministry negated the proposal saying that there was a ban on creation of new posts.
She said the request for creation of new posts should be viewed from the perspective of economic development of the region and the Finance Ministry should accept the proposal for creation of posts so that the airport could be operated for 24 hours.
Since Silk Air has come up with the proposal to start Visakhapatnam-Singapore flights from October 1 and the arrival and departure timings of Silk Air at Visakhapatnam was 10.05 p.m. and 10.55 p.m., the present 12-hour operation would make it impossible, she said.
