A delegation of the Odisha Development Forum and other social organisations of Ganjam met the Assembly Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro recently renewing their demand for establishment of a state of the art green field airport at Brahmapur and for rapid industrialization  including  development of tourism industry and railway infra in Ganjam district

Senior member ODF Laxmi Narayan Padhi, senior member of Bahumukhi Samaj Mangal Kendra Manas Patra, ‘Utkal Samaj State Secretary Saroj Pattnaik, ODF members V Someshwar Rao, Ajay Sahu, Pritish Panigrahi, Abibhavak Sangha president Madhusudan Sahu, Divine Charity president Biranchi Narayan Sahu and other prominent activists were present during submission of a memorandum to the Speaker.

Notably under the UDDAN scheme, the Odisha Government is setting up airports in Rourkela (which is just 90 km from Jharsuguda airport), Utkela, Puri (which is only 56 km from Bhubaneswar), Paradip and Jaypur. But Brahmapur city which is the second largest urban cluster in Odisha and commercial as well as educational hub of south Odisha has been neglected and the Department of Civil Aviation and Government of Odisha both are jointly adopting a different policy of shifting of responsibility to each other for the establishment of airport here. Members of the ODF expressed their deep concern for this approach while discussing with Patro. The Speaker asked local MLAs to raise the issues in the Assembly and promised to look into it personally, sources said.