Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday flagged off the inaugural flight from Lucknow to Najaf in Iraq.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Singh that by introducing this  flight from the state capital, the Bharatiya Janata Party government had fulfilled its responsibility.

“As a local Member of Parliament and a minister in the Union Cabinet, it is my responsibility to extend all possible facilities to the people of this state. I simply did my duty,” Singh said when a senior Muslim cleric, Maulana Hamiddul Hasan, said that this flight was a big favour to the Muslims.

Najaf is a city in central-south Iraq and is considered the third holiest city of Shias.

“It was a long-pending demand of the Muslims to have direct flight between Lucknow and Najaf. With the start of this flight, Shia brothers will be able to go there. This will generate more employment which in turn will help the local economy,” the Union Home Minister said.

The five-and-a-half-hour flight from Lucknow to Najaf will operate on Mondays and Thursdays and have lay off at New Delhi.

 In his address Singh also spoke about the development work carried out in the last four-and-a-half years.

“Just to name a few, 104-km-long outer ring road has been constructed’ flyovers have come up and eased traffic flow while the railways stations at Charbagh and Gomti Nagar have been made world class,” he said.

Earlier, Singh also inaugurated the multi-level parking at Chowk that has been constructed at a cost of Rs 4,876 lakh. This three-tier parking can accommodate 396 cars and 266 two-wheelers.

Singh also inaugurated projects worth Rs 7.70 crore to make Lucknow a no tripping zone.