Spread over more than 1,300 hectares of land, the Noida International Airport in Jewar is touted to be India’s largest and its first phase is expected to be completed by 2024
Amid much hoopla and hype, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Noida International Airport.
Amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the airport would benefit crores of people in Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh.
He added that the Noida Airport will become the logistics gateway of north India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged that the aviation sector was rapidly growing in the country and with this development, the Noida International Airport will play a big role.
He highlighted that the undertakings by his government at the Centre and Yogi Adityanath in the state were not just infrastructure projects. “Better roads, better rail network, better airports are not just infrastructure projects but they transform the entire region, transforming people’s lives completely. Soon, Delhi-Mumbai expressway will be ready,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said, “The airport will boost exports of UP and bring thousands of jobs to the youth of the state. Improved air connectivity will also boost the tourism sector of the state.”
He said, “After seven decades of independence, for the first time, Uttar Pradesh has started getting what it has always deserved. With the efforts of the government of double engine today, Uttar Pradesh is turning into one of the most connected region of the country.”
He also took on the Opposition saying that earlier the state would only be criticised for bad roads, poor infrastructure, mafia. “Previous governments kept UP poor.”
The PM was unrelenting in his criticism of the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh, saying that the previous state government had written to the Centre to stop the Jewar airport project.
PM Modi says, “For industry, UP is now ‘uttam seva, nirantar nivesh’.The prime minister said that it was under Yogi’s rule that today the investors of the country and the world say Uttar Pradesh means — best facility, constant investment.
Modi said that unlike other government, his government does not believe that infrastructure should be political, but part of the national policy. “We are making sure that the projects do not get stuck, do not hang, do not go astray. We try to ensure that the infrastructure work is completed within the stipulated time.”
He added that the BJP always followed the spirit of nation first, while some others always put their self interest, their family’s self-development as priority.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed the crowds before Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone.
Taking swipes at the Opposition for raising issues over the airport, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “The farmers here had once worked to increase the sweetness of sugarcane, but some people had converted the sweetness of sugarcane into bitterness. These were the same people who continue to be Jinnah’s followers today, whom the people here are ready to teach a lesson.”
The comment could be seen as a direct jibe to Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, who was criticised earlier for his comment in which he had compared Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, saying they all fought for India’s independence.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had also attended the event. Addressing the thousands who had collected there, Scindia said, “The Jewar airport will host multi-modal connectivity and bring in investments worth Rs 60,000 crore to UP.”
“There will be five more international airports in UP itself due to the efforts of the government. Runway par plane, patri par train, expressway par gaadi, this is the vision of PM Modi,” he added.
Ahead of the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the model of the Jewar International Airport, which will be fashioned after the Zurich International Airport in Switzerland.
The airport, touted to become Asia’s largest once it is operational, will also be the country’s first net-zero emissions airport.
The Noida International Airport in Gautam Buddha Nagar will be the fifth international airport in Uttar Pradesh, the most any state has.
Interestingly, the project is being flagged off just before the UP Assembly elections. Narendra Modi had also inaugurated the Kushinagar International Airport on 20 October. Another international airport is also being constructed in Ayodhya.
Spread over more than 1,300 hectares of land, the airport is in its first phase of development, currently costing over Rs 10,050 crore. The completed first phase of the airport will have a capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year and the work on it is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted about his visit to UP to lay the foundation stone for the airport.
Ahead of the bhoomi pujan event, the Noida Traffic Police issued an advisory detailing traffic diversions and alternative routes. Earlier this morning, a six-km-long traffic jam was reported on the road leading to Jewar.
Thousands of people, including women and children, on Thursday reached Jewar ahead of the massive event. Besides locals, scores of people from Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Hathras, Aligarh and Agra arrived at Jewar on tractors and motorcycles.
The airport is being developed by Swiss concessionaire Zurich International Airport AG’s subsidiary Yamuna International Airport Private Limited for the Uttar Pradesh government.
With inputs from agencies
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