Bathinda in south-west Punjab on Sunday became the latest place in the country to get air connectivity with a new flight connecting it with New Delhi being started.
Marking a red letter day in Punjab’s history, the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the new civil air terminal at Bathinda airport along with the flight in the presence Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is also local MP.
Sukhbir said that the inauguration of this airport has brought Bathinda on the world map with fanfare. “The industry would get a gigantic boost with the commencement of flights from the airport,” he said.
He divulged that various industrial houses would set up their units here eventually leading to the increasing of employment avenues for the youth of the region.
Revealing more, Sukhbir said that Adampur airport has also been approved and the ones at ludhiana and Pathankot would also see the light of the day soon.
He added that the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham flight has also been accorded sanction by the Union Government which would prove beneficial to the people wanting to board direct flight from Amritsar to Birmingham.
Deputy Chief Minister said that Bathinda has witnessed revolutionary transformation during the past 10 years in each sector, particularly the development of roads, and it was all due to the sincere efforts of the SAD-BJP Government.
“The aviation sector in the State has been on upswing under the leadership of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with a string of airports established or in the process of being established,” he added.
In another important announcement, Sukhbir said that the foundation stone of a factory to make oil from the residue of crops would be laid soon.
“Factory would come up at a cost of Rs 500 crore and would put a stop to the trend of setting the crop residue to fire which would lead to decrease in pollution and benefit every farmer by Rs 5000 per acre,” he said.
Harsimrat, in her address, said that ever since the NDA Government has taken over since last two years, Bathinda has occupied prime importance in Centre’s scheme of things.
“The coming of Central University, AIIMS and the airport to Bathinda have acted as game changers for the region,” she said while expressing supreme confidence that top standard rail, road and air connectivity would make Bathinda an important trade and commercial centre.