Rajasthan: Foundation stone of Kota-Bundi Greenfield Airport to be laid on Saturday

Jaipur, March 6 (PTI) The foundation stone of the Kota-Bundi Greenfield Airport will be laid on Saturday in the Bundi district of Rajasthan in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu.

The ceremony will be held at the proposed airport site at Shambhupura in Bundi. The foundation stone for the Naunera and Parwan-Akawad drinking water projects will also be laid during the programme.

Several ministers and public representatives of the state are expected to attend the event, including Education Minister Madan Dilawar and PHED Minister Kanhaiya Lal Chaudhary.

According to officials, the Kota-Bundi Greenfield Airport will be constructed at a cost of about Rs 1,507 crore. The airport will have a capacity to handle around 1,000 passengers and will include a 20,000 square metre terminal building.

A runway measuring 3,200 metres in length and 45 metres in width will be developed, along with seven apron bays for parking A-321 category aircraft.

Meanwhile, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the proposal for the Kota airport was initiated during the previous Congress government in the state.

He said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised the people of Kota during a public meeting that an airport would be developed in the region. Gehlot said that to fulfil the promise, the Congress government had allotted 1,250 acres of land free of cost for the airport project in 2021.

He also said a budget of Rs 120 crore was sanctioned in 2022 for shifting power lines from the proposed airport site.

Gehlot claimed that the project remained delayed for nearly four years due to the Centre's slow pace of work and expressed hope that construction would now proceed quickly after the foundation-laying ceremony. PTI SDA MNK MNK