Uttar Pradesh aviation minister says state to have over 20 airports in coming years

Uttar Pradesh will have over 20 airports, including five international ones, in the coming years, state Civil Aviation Minister Nand Gopal Gupta said on Thursday during the foundation-laying ceremony of the Noida International Airport.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the mega greenfield airport in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The airport located in Jewar, Gautam Buddh Nagar is billed to be Asia's biggest upon completion.

Gupta thanked the prime minister for the project on behalf of the 24 crore people of Uttar Pradesh.

Regarding aviation infrastructure in the state, he said, "Uttar Pradesh will have 21 airports, including five international airports, in the coming years."

Heaping praise on the Centre for expediting the project, Gupta said, "It has happened often that files related to the Jewar airport got cleared within a day. This airport was just an advertising object during the days of the previous governments, which like a genie came out of a bottle only during elections."

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls due early next year, the BJP leader also took on opposition SP and BSP, accusing these parties of nepotism, dynastic politics, corruption and mafia raj during their governments in the state.

"But now, Yogi's bulldozer is crushing the black empires of corrupt people of the previous governments.... Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas is not merely a slogan but the objective of the BJP," he said.

Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh said this is the first time that a prime minister came to Jewar, which was counted among the backward constituencies until recently.

Singh, who played a key role in the land acquisition negotiations for the greenfield project, also thanked the people of Jewar for their support in the construction of what will become "Asia's biggest airport".

Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma said the airport will change the fortunes of western Uttar Pradesh.

"I was fortunate that under Prime Minister Modi, I was the minister of state for Union civil aviation when this airport project was almost gone. It was Prime Minister Modi's vision that the Delhi airport will not be able to bear the passenger burden after 2023 and a new airport was needed in the NCR," he said.

"It was to be decided where the new airport should be built -- Bhiwadi in Rajasthan or somewhere in Haryana or here in Jewar. The fight continued for long and eventually, you (Jewar) won this fight for the international airport," the former Union minister said.

Sharma said Jewar has been lagging behind in terms of development but will transform in the coming days and thanked the people of the region, including the farmers.

He said the airport will give a boost to local trade and business. Citing his interactions with the locals, Sharma said the rates of land in the areas near the airport have already gone up by "two to three times".

"Had the farmers of this region not supported this project, the dream for this airport could not have been realised," Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Surendra Singh Nagar said, expressing gratitude to the farming community.

Noting the farmers' support to prevent any delay in the project, he said many villagers cooperated for rehabilitation and resettlement "even when their homes were not ready".

Nagar said the airport will benefit people in the entire western Uttar Pradesh.

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