Deoghar airport is likely to be operational from September as the Union Civil Aviation Ministry is chalking out a plan for the formal inauguration of the airport on September 17 coinciding with the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But Bokaro airport will have to wait for some more time.
BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey claimed that the proposal for inauguration has been discussed with Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri who has been reviewing the progress of development work of this airport. Puri had even visited Deoghar last year for physical inspection of the construction work.
Once complete, this will be the second airport in Jharkhand after Ranchi. It will be capable of handling flights including large aircraft and is expected to boost regional connectivity and tourism.
This airport is being jointly developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Jharkhand government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of this airport on May 25, 2018.
Spread over 653.75 acres of land the project cost of this airport is Rs 401.34 crore. Its terminal building is being built over an area of 4,000sqm whereas the runway is 2,500 metres long.
Meanwhile, the AAI has set the target to complete the remaining work by mid of August including the approach road it has also decided to install a heavy solar power plant to make the airport self-powered. The AAI has planned to use the parking area spread over 20000 square feet to install solar panels.
But residents of Bokaro will have to wait for their airport. However, AAI in December last year had initially planned to host commercial flights to Patna and Calcutta by the end of July. But the Covid 19 pandemic severely hit the construction work. There were only 25 percent of the work that needed to be finished. The construction work has been expedited once again and it is likely to be completed by August.
The project includes a terminal building to accommodate 300 passengers, runway, apron and taxi track for ATR-72 type aircraft.
After Deoghar; Bokaro will be the second airport set-up under UDAN, the centrally sponsored scheme for regional air-connectivity. The airport is owned by Bokaro Steel Plant which is a subsidiary of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). In April 2018, SAIL had signed a MOU with AAI and the Union civil aviation ministry to develop its three airstrips namely Rourkela (West Bengal), Bokaro (Jharkhand) and Burnpur (Odisha) under UDAN.
BSL too has applied for the aerodrome license at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which is very much required to operationalize Bokaro airport.
