Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday said the expansion of Puducherry airport will be possible only if Tamil Nadu provided land. (Land required for runway expansion is in the jurisdiction of Tamil Nadu).
Addressing the media after launching the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana campaign here, he said: “I have written to the previous Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and requested them to provide land for expansion. Each State has to work with others for mutual benefit. We are still pursuing it. The SpiceJet aircraft is being operated from Puducherry to Hyderabad under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagarik) scheme and it has been a success.
“Every passenger travelling from Puducherry to Hyderabad need not be Hyderabad-bound. He could be going anywhere in the world. We have found potential in Puducherry and the UDAN scheme is to unlock the local potential and this is the potential we have to pull out from such places.”
‘Airport in every State’
He added that every State should have an airport, even across the sea in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“The whole country needs connectivity. We are the fastest-growing country and we have a large growing middle class, which is time conscious,” he said.
The Union Minister said that Panthankot would be connected under the UDAN scheme, which was for the under-served and unserved. “We will be including one place under the UDAN scheme every two or three months,” he said.
‘Vibrant alternative’
He called for suggestions to make Air India a vibrant alternative, as the Air India-specific alternative mechanism set up to guide the process of disinvestment was meeting soon. “Tourism has been the highest employer of the capital invested world over and India is such a rich country in culture and language that it has tremendous potential. Connectivity was an issue. In 70 years of Independence, we have had 70 active airports in the country. We found this inadequate and devised the scheme where we partnered with all States and increased the connectivity within the country. I am happy that the UDAN scheme has helped open air connectivity in 32 destinations,” he said.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy sought help in expanding the air connectivity from Puduchery to Tirupati, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, and Kochi.
“We request you to kindly provide us more funds. We have requested the Tamil Nadu government to provide us land for airport expansion. Puducherry is an important destination,” he said.
