State to have network of 19 operational airports: Finance minister | Patna News
Patna: Giving details of work underway to develop big and small airports in the state, finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said in his budget speech on Tuesday that Bihar would, in due course, have a network of 19 fully operational airports. These would include relatively larger airports at Darbhanga and Purnia, as well as the under-construction greenfield airport at Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district.He said work had already begun to develop Darbhanga airport into a fully operational facility, for which land was being acquired for the construction of an extended runway and a civil enclave. In addition, a logistics park and a cargo hub would also be constructed near the Darbhanga airport, which, in turn, would boost air transportation of agricultural products from the Mithila region as well as north Bihar.Yadav said a sum of Rs 244 crore had been released for the acquisition of 89.75 acres of land, and Rs 5 crore had also been given to the Darbhanga district magistrate for acquiring additional land for the extended runway and civil enclave.For the construction of infrastructure for the civil enclave at the Purnia military airport, the govt has paid a revised amount of Rs 22 crore for the acquisition of an additional 15 acres of land. The Purnia airport became operational for civil aviation in Sept last year.Regarding the proposed airport at Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district, the finance minister said the govt had initiated the process for releasing Rs 472 crore for the acquisition of 931 acres of land.Apart from this, Rs 10 crore has been released to the Patna district magistrate for the construction of a civil enclave at the Bihta airport while Rs 207 crore has been paid to the East Champaran district land acquisition officer for acquiring 139 acres of land for the construction of the Raxaul airport. Similarly, for the development of the Supaul airport, Rs 42 crore has been released to the land acquisition officer for acquiring 88.83 acres of land.A sum of Rs 2 crore has been paid to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), New Delhi, for conducting pre-feasibility studies for airports at Madhubani, Birpur, Munger, Valmikinagar, Bhagalpur and Saharsa. Another Rs 1 crore has been released for pre-feasibility studies for the Chapra and Motihari airports. In addition, Rs 81 lakh has been released to the AAI for pre-feasibility studies of the Ulao airport in Begusarai and the Sabeya military airport in Gopalganj district.An additional Rs 147 crore has been released for the acquisition of 12 acres of land required for extending the runway at the Saharsa airport, while Rs 138 crore has been paid for acquiring 50 acres of land for constructing a logistics park and cargo hub.Further, administrative sanction has been granted for Rs 1,302 crore required to acquire 4,228 acres of identified land for the construction of the proposed greenfield Sonepur airport in Saran district.
