Gorakhpur to get air connectivity with prominent cities: Yogi
GORAKHPUR: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday inaugurated the first phase of passenger terminal at Gorakhpur airport. He also announced to name the airport on Maha Yogi Guru Gorakhnath.
Speaking on the occasion, Yogi said the temple town will soon have air connectivity with Mumbai and Kathmandu (Nepal’s capital).
The newly inaugurated terminal has a capacity of 100 passengers.
The state government, which has sent a proposal to central government to change the name of Mughalsarai railway station on RSS ideologue Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhyay, will also name Agra airport on Upadhyay, said the CM. He was accompanied by Jayant Sinha, Union minister of state (MoS) for civil aviation, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Rajya Sabha MP and Kankesh Paswan, MP from Basgaon.
Expressing confidence that the civil aviation ministry would soon connect Gorakhpur with New Delhi, Mumbai and Kathmandu, Yogi praised ‘Udaan’, cheap aviation services introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said the scheme will bring down air fares so much so that even a labourers can afford to fly.
Recalling how the Gorakhpur airport was first opened for commercial flights in the late 1980s but later closed down, Yogi claimed it was due to his efforts that Sahara Airlines started flights from Gorakhpur in 2000.
“Now Air India and SpiceJet have also started operating from Gorakhpur airport and more private airlines are likely to follow,” he said while insisting that the priority of the state government is to start flight services to places like Allahabad, Bareilly, Kanpur, Jhansi and Faizabad.
Promising to usher in development in Uttar Pradesh by improving road connectivity, Yogi said six-lane LucknowAgra Expressway will be connected to Jhansi, Chitrakoot and Allahabad.
“Along the way, industries will be set up to stop migration by youths,” Yogi said. “Purvanchal Expressway will also be connected to prominent Hindu pilgrimage sites such as Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.”
Under the second phase of Udaan scheme, the focus of the government is on providing air connectivity to more airports, said Sinha.
“Under the first phase, the focus was on developing infra- structures of airport terminals but in the second phase we will be focusing on enhancing air connectivity.”
Sinha claimed that under the present government, the aviation sector has witnessed a revolution “In last 70 years just 70 airports, one in each year were constructed but in just one year we have built 32 airports and connected them with air services,” he said while taking a jibe at previous SP government.
“Under Yogi, the state is progressing with a speed of an airplane and not with that of a cycle.”(WITH