Union civil aviation secy reviews airport project in Ayodhya

LUCKNOW: Union civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola reached Ayodhya on Sunday to inspect ongoing work for the Ayodhya international airport which has been named as Sri Ramchandra Airport.

Anuj Jha, district magistrate of Ayodhya, briefed Kharola about the ongoing land acquisition work for the airport. Kharola said the airport’s runway will be two km long.’ He also expressed hope that the Ayodhya administration would soon hand over the land acquired for the airport to the Airports Authority of India.

The Yogi government has expedited its ambitious international airport project in Ayodhya which it wants to make operational on the occasion of Ram Navmi this year. The state government has announced expansion of existing airstrip in Faizabad (now Ayodhya district). For the project, the state government has sanctioned Rs 200 crore for acquisition of land.

Recently, a four-member team from the Airports Authority of India visited Ayodhya for a ground check and preparations for the project. Around 464-acre land has been identified for the mega project. Of this, only 177acre land has been acquired till date. In a bid to connect Ayodhya with rest of the country, the Centre has already approved Rs 100-crore modernisation plan for the Ayodhya railway station.

The government’s grand plan for Ayodhya is to develop the temple as a prominent religious destination in north India on lines of Triputi temple—a major religious destination in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It will take four years to completely revamp Ayodhya.

The state government is also planning to come up with ‘Ayodhya Tirtha Development Board’ to regulate all development activities in Ayodhya.