Trade union leader and former president of Ganjam Bar Association Bhagaban Sahu has submitted a comprehensive memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding development of the Rangailunda Airstrip as a full-fledged mini airport and its inclusion in the Centre’s proposal for setting up of over 100 mini airports in the country as announced recently.
The Prime Minister has announced to set up such mini airports in small towns and cities, and as part of this ambitious scheme, the PM has already laid the foundation-stone for development of the airport at Kishangarh in Ajmer district of Rajasthan last year, Sahu’s memorandum pointed out.
It may be recalled that the airstrip at Rangailunda (Brahmapur) in Ganjam district is ideally located between the Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam Airports and its adjoining lands have been earmarked for its expansion since long, but without any progress which is quite unfortunate, Sahu lamented.
This airstrip is located for tourists at a picturesque destination only four km from the famous Gopalpur-on-Sea, which attracts both foreign and domestic tourists for its scenic beauty and serene atmosphere. Due to non-development of the airstrip into a regular and full-fledged airport, overseas tourists who intend to visit Gopalpur-on-Sea have to land at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar and travel around 200 km all along by road to reach Gopalpur-on-Sea, the memorandum pointed out.
Besides being a seaside tourist destination, the potentiality of this airstrip is quite high as a band of key organisations and industries like the Army Defence Military College, Berhampur University, Indian Rare Earths Limited, Gopalpur Steel Plant of the Tata group, Jayashree Chemicals, Gopalpur Port, Howrah-Chennai railway track, Hotel Mayfair, the upcoming railway wagon building project and titanium dioxide plant are located within a radius of 0-7 km linking NH-5 and NH-59 which cannot be ignored, Sahu argued.
The Silk City of Brahmapur with nearly six lakh population is located at a distance of only 30 km from Asia’s largest lagoon, brackish water Chilika lake and the city has produced several thousand IT technocrats who are currently serving in top MNCs in different metros in India as well as abroad, the memorandum further pointed out. Besides, more than 100 up and down trains are passing through the railway station of this city every day which justifies setting up of a full-fledged mini airport at Rangailunda.
Development of an airport at Rangailunda would accelerate economic activities and push the economic growth of the region besides promoting tourism in the region, Sahu claimed.
Copies of the memorandum have also been submitted to the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and State Chief Minister. It is quite unfortunate that the elected representatives of this region have failed to mount pressure on the Government to bat for a mini airport at Rangailunda, Sahu lamented. Source: The Pioneer
No comments:
Post a Comment