Adampur all set to fly high from September 25 : The Tribune India

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Adampur all set to fly high from September 25

JALANDHAR: The satellite town of Adampur is all upbeat, with the district administration clearing the decks for the domestic airport to be made functional there from September 25.

Adampur all set to fly high from September 25

The Adampur Air Force Station, some 25 km from Jalandhar, which is being readied for commercial flights that are going to start from September 25. File Photos



Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 21

The satellite town of Adampur is all upbeat, with the district administration clearing the decks for the domestic airport to be made functional there from September 25.

When the 72-seater plane of a private airline commences its flight to and from Delhi in the fall of September, a long-pending demand of the industrial lobby would be met.

The tentative air fare for the one-way flight to the national Capital has been pegged at Rs 2,500 per person.

The airport’s foundation stone was laid by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 16 last year after a feasibility study was conducted by various government agencies.

Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma said the airport needed 40 acres, out of which 36 acres had already been acquired after completing the cumbersome land acquisition process.

Businessmen of Jalandhar and other towns of Doaba claim that once the entity becomes operational, it will act as a catalyst in boosting the economy of the region.

“The work on the terminal building is in full swing and flights will be using the already in-use runway of the Indian Air Force,” said the DC.

Ashwani Kumar, secretary of the Doaba Airport Welfare Association (DAWA), underlined the importance of the venture by saying that it would open new vistas for businessmen who, at present, had to undertake a 2-hour journey to the Amritsar airport before taking an onwards connection to Delhi.

“Passengers from Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Nawashahr, all these places being NRI hubs, have to travel to Amritsar before they can fly to Delhi and later to international destinations. Precious time will be saved when the flights commence. The airport will also benefit religious tourism as pilgrims visiting the Chintpurni temple from all over the country have no option but to travel to Amritsar before coming to Chintpurni,” said Ashwani Kumar, whose organisation has been in the forefront of the struggle to get the aerodrome.

The venture will primarily cater to passengers of the Doaba and regions of the state bordering Himachal Pradesh.

Ashwani Kumar added that the chances of flights running in losses were slim as Lovely Professional University (LPU) had promised to sponsor 50 per cent of the costs for the first six months.

“Hundreds of foreigners come to study at the varsity. Their parents too come to meet them from foreign countries. Instead of landing at Delhi and then catching a connecting flight to Amritsar before driving down to Jalandhar, which is a tedious process, students and their parents can now fly directly to Adampur from Delhi before driving to Lovely Professional University, which is barely 25 km away,” said Ashwani Kumar, an industrialist of Doaba.

While all development work is being done as per the laid-down schedule, the district administration is waiting for funds worth Rs 1 crore to ensure water supply, electricity and also t construct a missing road link of around 350 m.

While the administration is expected to spend around Rs 33 lakh for the construction of the approach road, it is expected to spend another Rs 10 lakh to install a tube-well to cater to the water needs of the airport.

Though the administration is all done with its estimates and undergoing development work, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) seems to have not woken up from its slumber. Though it has set September 25 as the day to launch the first flight from Doaba, it is yet to apply for the water supply and power connection with the district administration. Also, while the administration has acquired around 37 acres for the construction of the airport terminal, the AAI is yet to seek its possession from the district administration.

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