Lok sabha MP from Jalandhar Mr Sushil Kumar Rinku today urged the Union governmen for naming the newly constructed domestic terminal of Adampur Airport, after the name of Sri Guru Ravidas Ji.
In a letter written to Union Civil Aviation Minister Mr Jyotiraditya M Scindia, he said that the Punjab Vidhan Saba had passed a resolution to name the domestic terminal of Adampur Airport, District Jalandhar after the name of 'Shri Guru Ravidas Ji.' Hence, he said that keeping the resolution of the Punjab Vidhan Saba and the emotional and religious sentiments of people, the Adampur Airport must be named after Sri Guru Ravidas Ji. Pressing for immediately resuming airline services from the Terminal, he said that it is the need of hour to provide air connectivity to region.
He said that looking at the potential and requirement of air connectivity to Doaba region of Punjab, Government of India had in past permitted low cost airline Spice Jet to operate flights on the Delhi-Adampur sector under the UDAN scheme. Also the flight from Mumbai-Adampur-Mumbai started and these flights successfully operated till April 2021. He said that Seeing the positive response of the air traffic and catering to the demands of the sector, Govt. of India had approved the construction of a new terminal building by AAl with the intent to add more sectors.
He said that the new Terminal Building with all modern facilities with peak hour capacity of 300 Passengers (150 arrival & 150 departure) has already been completed. But No flight has been started till now which is causing grave inconvenience to the commuters, visitors and residents of the Doaba region (which has huge NRI population and frequently move across the globe) and also, showing the effectiveness of UDAN scheme in bad light. He said that Further in absence of any flight, the whole project cost of renovations amounting to Rs. 125 Crores including the work of Construction of New Terminal Building. Apron & associated works, operational & maintenance expenses etc remains an exercise in futility.
He also said that there is a long-standing demand of people from central Punjab (Doaba region) for direct flights to international destinations. AAI has recently constructed a modem and updated 'civil enclave' at Adampur airport near Jalandhar. There is great demand for direct international flights from this 'civil enclave' to UAE due to the sizeable number of Indians, belonging to the area, working in places like Dubai/Abu Dhabi. Further, there has been consistent demand, since long, from huge Indian diaspora, settled in UK. for direct flights from Jalandhar to Birmingham.
He said that There are 'tour operators, of this region, willing to partner with Indian carriers, like Spicelet, for guaranteed passenger load for both. Adampur-Dubai and Adampur-Birmingham flights. Therefore, your kind intervention is requested to direct airlines to resume flights on the Delhi- Adampur-Delhi sector along with the additional above stated proposed international sectors at the earliest so that major respite is given to huge population of the region.