16 new airports to be constructed in Central India: Civil Aviation Minister

Airports will be built at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, Ambikapur, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, nine airports to come up in Uttar Pradesh, one in Rajasthan, and two in Maharashtra.

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16 new airports to be built in all five states of central India, said Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia while addressing the PM-Gati Shakti Conference virtually on January 31. These five states include Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. 

The Minister stressed the need for better integration among all stakeholders, particularly States and UTs for the success of PM-Gati Shakti. "An airport will be built at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. Airports will also be built in Ambikapur, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh. Nine airports will be built in Uttar Pradesh, one in Rajasthan, and two in Maharashtra. National Highways of one lakh km will be widened under the PM-Gati Shakti," he said. 

Scindia also said that only 74 airports were built in the last 70 years, now 66 more airports have become functional in the last seven years and India has a total of 140 Airports as of date. Addressing the PM-Gati Shakti Conference, Scindia said, "The success of PM Gati Shakti will catalyze the multimodal connectivity in the country, leading to realizing the vision of USD 5 trillion economies. The Gati Shakti initiative will not only help in bringing more investment into the country but also help create great employment.

 "The Union Minister said that many countries of the world including South Asian countries have focused on investment in the infrastructure sector in the last 70 years and all of them have become developed countries now. Under the leadership of PM Modi, PM-Gati Shakti is a great initiative to make India a superpower of the world, with the prowess of the best infrastructure. 

In the earlier governments, there was no determination about the formulation and implementation of developmental schemes, but now the picture has changed, he added. The Minister said that during the previous governments, whereas only one AIIMS was built in 10 years, now in the regime of the current government, 15 AIIMS have been built in the last seven years. 

He further added the cargo capacity in the ports has increased from 1280 million metric tons to 1760 million metric tons during the period. Further, he stressed that PM-Gati Shakti, which will cost Rs 100 Lakh Crore, is indeed a campaign to transform India into a global superpower. 

With inputs from ANI