Campaign for International Airport in Bhubaneswar and completion of Jharsuguda airport
APPEAL to readers, Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Bringing International Connectivity, CENTER & ODISHA, Jharsuguda, Rourkela- Kansbahal, Sambalpur-Burla-Jharsuguda July 24th. 2010, 3:18pmFollowing is an email that I and many other are sending to the PM, the Minister of Civil Aviation, the chief minister and other officials. Please consider sending similar emails to them. Feel free to add additional requests (such as air services to Rourkela airport, etc.) that may seem logical to you. The email addresses to send are: "Dr. Manmohan Singh" <pmosb@pmo.nic.in>, praful@sansad.nic.in, Chief Minister <cmo@ori.nic.in>, ps.moca@nic.in, secy.moca@nic.in, ctsec@ori.nic.in, "Sonia Gandhi" <soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in>, ortour@orissatourism.gov.in
To: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Government of India
Mr. Praful Patel, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India
CC: Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Government of Orissa
Dear Dr. Singh and Mr. Patel:
Yet again Orissa is being neglected with respect to infrastructure development. While there are news reports [3] that Visakhapatnam airport will soon become an international airport, your government is neglecting the just demands of making Bhubaneswar an international airport even though the later would serve a much bigger population, will be the only international airport in the state, and as per your own data currently has 50% more daily flights than Visakhapatnam.
Is this because Congress rules in Andhra Pradesh and is in the opposition in Orissa?
Sir: We would like you to think about even development across India and not just about states ruled by the Congress party. It is your prerogative to establish as many international airports in Andhra Pradesh or any other state of your choice, and we are happy for them, but please do not neglect Orissa in the process.
We would like to request you to designate the Bhubaneswar airport as an international airport and have Air India (Express) flights directly connecting Bhubaneswar to international destinations, starting with one or more south East Asian destinations such as Bangkok and Singapore. We would also like you to expedite the establishment and operationalization of a commercial airport in Jharsuguda which will cater to the industrial belt of Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-
The Bhubaneswar airport caters to the capital area of Orissa and its nearby areas. While the larger metropolitan area of Bhubaneswar [Map1] has a population of 19 lakhs [1], a 200kms radius of around Bhubaneswar consists of 14 of the 21 parliamentary constituencies of Orissa (Berhampur, Aska, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsignhpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Phulbani) with a population of about 3 crores.
This area includes several large population centers [Map2] as well as existing and emerging industrial hubs. These centers and hubs are Berhampur to the south, Puri and Paradeep to the east, Angul-Talcher to the west, Kalinganagar, Dhamara and Balasore to the North. The area also includes top tourist destinations such as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Chilika, as well as the Buddhist monuments of Orissa which are of special interest to East Asia. As you may know Buddhism spread to East Asia and beyond when Emperor Ashoka became Dharmshoka on the bank of the Daya river on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
The area is also ripe for a logistic corridor with existing excellent Rail, Road, and Ports connectivity and with a national waterway under works. Thus an international airport would also make it a multi-modal logistic hub.
The Bhubaneswar airport has a runway of 9000 feet and it is being extended to 10,500 feet.
Currently, four airlines have regular flights linking Bhubaneswar, three of which have international operations. They are Kingfisher, Jetlite (of Jet) and Air India. The 4th airline connecting Bhubaneswar is Indigo which commenced operations in India on 4th August 2006 and would be eligible for international flights in 2011.
The average number of flights operating from Bhubaneswar [2] is 50, which is more than with respect to airports in Calicut – 50, Nagpur – 48, Coimbatore – 42, Mangalore – 30, Patna – 27, Srinagar – 27, Amritsar – 27, Trichy – 21, Varanasi – 16, Port Blair – 15, Tirupati – 9, Gaya – 1 all of which have been designated as international or customs airports. In addition, there have been recent reports [3] that Visakhapatnam with an average of 33 flights will soon be an international airport.
In [Map3] we map the international and custom airports of India and as anyone would notice there is a big gap around Bhubaneswar.
With Bhubaneswar emerging as an IT, Knowledge/Education and Tourism hub, and Odisha among the leaders in terms of incoming investments it is imperative that the Bhubaneswar airport be made to an international airport urgently.
We sincerely request you to shed your partisan attitude of neglecting the non-Congress ruled state of Orissa (in favor of Congress ruled states like Andhra Pradesh) and take immediate action on that front and declare Bhubaneswar as an international airport and commence international flights to/from Bhubaneswar.
[1] http://www.orissalinks.com/
[2] http://pib.nic.in/release/
[3] http://www.thehindu.com/news/
[4] http://pib.nic.in/release/
Sincerely,
APPENDIX 1
From http://pib.nic.in/release/
The average number of flights operated in a day from each of the International Airports in the country is as under: Mumbai(MIAL) – 654, Delhi (DIAL) – 666, Chennai – 306, Banglore (BIAL) – 280, Kolkata – 231, Hyderabad (GHIAL) – 219, Cochin – 112, Ahmedabad- 107, Guwahati – 90, Trivandrum – 71, Goa – 64, Calicut – 50, Jaipur – 66, Nagpur – 48, Port Blair – 15, Srinagar – 27, Amritsar – 27, Pune – 66, Indore – 61, Juhu – 60, Bhopal – 59, Lucknow – 56, Vadodra – 54, Bhubaneswar – 50, Coimbatore – 42, Visakhapatnam – 33, Ranchi – 32, Raipur – 31, Mangalore – 30, Patna – 27, Jammu- 23, Agartala – 23, Trichy – 21, Chandigarh – 21, Udaipur -21, Imphal – 19, Madurai – 20, Bagdogra – 19, Varanasi – 16,Aurangabad – 14, Silchar – 11, Tirupati – 9, Jodhpur – 7, Leh – 6, Rajkot – 6, Gaya – 1.
APPENDIX 2
FROM http://pib.nic.in/release/
So far, seventeen airports in the country have been accorded “International Status”. These airports are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Calicut, Chennai, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar. Of these, eight airports, namely, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Calicut, Chennai, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram belong to Airports Authority of India (AAI) and three Civil Enclaves, namely, Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar are maintained by AAI. AAI provides CNS / ATM services for five airports managed by Joint Venture Companies at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur and for one private airport at Kochi. At Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar, which belong to Defence, AAI only maintains Civil Enclaves and CNS/ATM services are provided by Defence. In addition, Tirupathi airport has been declared as an international airport subject to the condition that the international airport may be made operational only after requisite facilities have been put in place.
Some airports are notified as Customs airports which can also cater to international flights. The customs airports are Varanasai, Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), Patna, Mangalore, Lucknow, Gaya, Coimbatore and Pune (civil enclave).
APPENDIX 3
From http://www.thehindu.com/news/
Favourable reply to Rosaiah’s letter to Union Ministry likely next month
International flights may very soon begin to land at the Visakhapatnam airport with the State Government taking firm initiative to get permission from the Union Government to formally declare it an International Airport.
The Department of Investment and Infrastructure now with Chief Minister Konijeti Roshaiah has written to Ministry of Civil Aviation to accord the requisite permission for the airport and a favourable reply was likely in July.
MAPS:
MAP 1: Greater Bhubaneswar area as per the CDP made by IIT Kharagpur
MAP 2: Population centers and industry hubs around the Bhubaneswar area (within about 200kms)
MAP 3: International and Custom Airports of India (showing the big gap around Bhubaneswar)
Postscript: Again, if you would like to campaign for whatever else, Do it. No one is stopping you. But don’t act like the proverbial crabs and thwart efforts that are going on. Unfortunately, as evident from some of the responses (see for example the comments at tathya.in) , some people are not even reading the content carefully (otherwise they would notice the mention of Jharsuguda) and instead of doing something positive, they have a knee-jerk negative reaction.
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July 25th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Gentlemen,
First of all congratulations on getting the campaign started. It was long overdue. Ideally, this demand should have come from the Orissa government but then the government shows very little initiative in such matters.
To those who demand airports in their respective cities I have just one comment to make. Please understand it is inevitable that Bhubaneswar/Cuttack will continue to bag the limelight in terms of new projects, not because of vested interests as most comments seem to suggest but because the city happens to be the capital of the state and it is easiest to ask for a project to be upgraded rather than create a new greenfield project. I am not from Bhubaneswar, yet I realize that an international airport in the city is a first step before airports in other cities of the state are built.
Having said that this does not mean that respective cities should not ask for airports of their own. There are many underutilized airport strips in the state dating from the 2nd World War that can be put to better use if they are given on lease to the private sector just as in the state of Maharashtra. Orissa should look at emulating the example of Maharashtra, as it is not a position to spend the required time and resources to develop these underutilized airports.
Take the case of the Rasgobindpur airport in the north of Orissa. It has been lying underutilized ever since it was constructed during the 2nd World War. This is an airstrip managed by the state government as opposed to the Airports Authority of India. Now why does the state government not think of leasing this airport to a private group. For just a couple of crores this airport could be made functional and serve the people of the adjoining districts not just in Orissa but also in West Bengal.
If I remember rightly, a couple of years back, Captain Gopinath, who was instrumental in starting low cost flights in India was also looking at starting no frills airports in India. Perhaps airports such as the one in Rasgobindpur and others in the state are ideal for such initiatives. Now only if the government showed a little more initiative just as it is doing with signing MoUs for steel plants.
The government could also look at another way to develop these underutilized airports. It could give rights of operation of these airports to those industries that are located closest to them. That way the companies get an airport that serves their purpose and the people get an airport in their respective cities.
July 25th, 2010 at 9:02 am
“Again, if you would like to campaign for whatever else, Do it. No one is stopping you. But don’t act like the proverbial crabs and thwart efforts that are going on. Unfortunately, as evident from some of the responses (see for example the comments at tathya.in) , some people are not even reading the content carefully (otherwise they would notice the mention of Jharsuguda) and instead of doing something positive, they have a knee-jerk negative reaction.”
This indeed is shameful.I don’t understand why one would try to sabotage a good campaign for the benefit of our state.I would support an airport effort from any part of Orissa including jharusuguda or whatever.But I didn’t receive any such emails supporting a jharasuguda airport campaign.Pulling down a perfectly well meaning campaign is pathetic narrow mindedness.
And posting comments publicly in Tathya against the campaign is downright despicable…
Shame!! Utter Shame!!!
July 25th, 2010 at 9:53 am
This is a much needed campaign. We all should support it and make it a bigger public initiative. Apart from this, also I request people here to send personal mails especially to MPs of ODISHA to make this demand politically at their end.
Sadly I’ve seen some negative comments in some web portals for location specific issues. As a whole we all fight for ODISHA. I would be happy if there’s an airport in every district of ODISHA. But, please note that the most viable and realistic option is to make bbsr airport international and may be one or more domestic airports in other industrially active regions of our state.
Thanks
Ranjan
July 25th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Tagging Bhubaneswar Airport to International status would be the Pride of each and every Odia person. Since long back, it is clear to each & every individual that 2nd domestic Airport in Odisha must be at Jharsuguda which AAI has already taken to their custody for the necessary infrastructure development.
When we see other states like Kerala / Tamilnadu / Maharashtra / Karnataka on number of Airports, it is very sad to see the state Odisha where more on politics and less on development work; of course local regional issues need to be raised but state’s pride to be taken on top priority.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:34 am
The Int’l Airport demand is well timed with the Parliament in session and it will be a tragedy if Vizag gets Int’l Airport ahead of BBSR and that to by showing that people of Berhampur to Bhimavaram depend on Vizag. While the demand for Vizag Int’l Airport has been taken up by AP Govt., in case of BBSR it is the HRAO and of late some people of eminence have taken up the cause. There is not an ioata of doubt about the credibility, honesty and sincerity of the people spearheading the demand and irrespective of regional dimensions they have always risen above all these and have spoken for all.
July 26th, 2010 at 11:37 am
for some politicians and costal belt pupil,they ve not seen the world.for them orissa is bhubaneswar and vice versa.like 4 ex jagamohan swain,yes its good to be an nternational airport in bbsr(because its not possible in other region and we know that the people of capital will not allow any big project on the other part of orissa , with this capital centric govt attitude and also we should not hope any thing good from this capital centric govt) but in my point of view at least a domestic airport demand should be their for jsg,rkl,brmpr
July 26th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Mr Jaga obviously has reading comprehension problem.It may be due to his limited educational background for which he can’t be blamed since large part of Orissa suffers from same.
Mr Jaga, If he could understand English well would realize that I have been a vocal supporter of development effort of any kind any where and any parts of Orissa and that includes Jharusuguda as well.I am personally committed to philanthropic efforts in Rourkela, which off course Mr Jaga is unaware of and hence can’t be blamed.
If Mr Jaga had done his due dilligence he would have realized that I am merely a participant and not initiator of this campaign for an International Airport in Bhubaneswar.Mr Jaga, obviously is oblivious to this information and again can’t be blamed.
I request Mr Jaga to launch a similar campaign for Airport in whichever place, yes whichever and that may include his backyard as well, and I will happily support that campaign.Mr Jaga would do well to note that I am a happy camper in all progressive campaigns for Orissa and that may include his backyard as well.
Now I request Mr Jaga to take leadership and follow up on above request and launch a campaign in whichever cause he believes benefits people of Orissa in and he has my word that there will be at least one person supporting him in this.
Will Mr Jaga step up to the plate??
July 27th, 2010 at 5:24 am
Well i went through the information on wikepedia for Vizag and BBSR.Then i started comparing both the places and found Vizag is 10 times ahead of BBSR in any field.Its unfortunate that a non capital city is ahead of our state capital.And to add there are atleast 5 other cities in AP which will dominate BBSR in a big way.Now coming to the point Vizag will be declared as an intl airport as it got the biggest port in the east coast.Information given on wikepedia may be not convincing completely but if one visits both the places BBSR and Vizag then the city of Vizag will come in a dominating way.So what might be the reason.Politically congress rules AP and BJD rules Orissa.So its quite obvious AP will get there 2nd intl airport.Its teh poltical dominance which will let Vizag and the probablity of making Telengana to reality is another major factor as in that case Vizag will be the next capital.However even after going through all the discussions i still support BBSR to have an intl airport as we dont have an intl airport at all in Orissa which is a reason.If the center keeps on behaving like our state govt(capital centric attitude) then BBSR will never get an intl airport.If BBSR gets the status then all well and the state govt should learn.. if not then this could be the lesson for our state govt.You cant develop one particular place and ignore others.All round development is important Mr PM .AP has already got intl airports we have none.So please consider BBSR to be the next intl airport.All round development is still important Mr CM.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Another important which is off the track ofcourse i.e the suspension of night trains in betwwen Rourkela and Khragpur.I know its ridiculous to raise the topic but just a request as Rourkela is the only major city of Orissa which has no railway connectivity to Delhi.The only express train has been diverted via Sambalpur.Instead of giving any alternative the people of Rourkela have been left in mercy.I appreciate the above letter but the suspension of trains is another major factor an this needs to be informed to the concerned authorities as well as the PM.East coast railways having its HQ at BBSR is suspending the services but why its not provideing any alternative to the people of Rourkela.Thats because Rourkela is not under East coast railway ?Rourkela is an integral part of Orissa .Is this reason is not enough to prompt the autorities to take a decision and solve the issue.I am sorry to raise the issue but i think this was the right time to inform as this article is been taken care by all the top shots of the state.Please look into this issue too.
September 28th, 2010 at 11:10 am
But… Orissadiary.com tells a totally different story…..
http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=21345