India: The Minister for Development of North Eastern region G Krishan Reddy announced that the government of India have opened 17 airports in the north-eastern region to increase its connectivity with the world.
Reddy stated that the work on the development of the new greenfield airport at Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Silchar airports in Assam, Imphal airport in Manipur, Barapani airport in Meghalaya and Agartala airport in Tripura is going on, according to the various reports.
The region has witnessed the opening of 17 airports and recently they inaugurated Donyi Polo airport in Arunachal Pradesh. In 2008, the Greenfield Airports Policy has been formulated by the government of India, The policy featured detailed guidelines, procedures and steps related to the construction of Greenfield airports across the country and it also includes the criteria for constructing an airport in Bihar.
The policy also outlines the detailed information of the proposed airport developer or the respective state government willing to establish a Greenfield airport. The government only has to send the proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the prescribed format for a two-stage approval process. The first step is “Site Clearance” and the second step is “In-Principle” approval.
The government of India granted the clearance for the first stage and started the construction of three Greenfield airports namely Alwar in Rajasthan, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.
Further, Reddy stated that the new project worth Rs 19,855 crore has also been allotted for the construction of the railway tracks. Currently, the government of the northwest region has initiated around 20 projects and several infrastructure development projects have been taken up by the ministers and departments concerned with the central government. The projects also included road connectivity initiatives which will further develop the region.
