Union Food Processing Industry Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Civil Aviation Ministry for giving the go-ahead for starting the second Bathinda-Jammu flight from March 25.
This will benefit thousands of devotees who had to spend eight to nine hours to visit Vaishno Devi by road and train, she said.
As this was the need of the hour, the second flight to Jammu would further consolidate Bathinda’s position as a trade and industrial hub, she said adding that this would also provide easy access to Vaishno Devi shrine to thousands of pilgrims in the Malwa region in Punjab as well as neighbouring areas in Haryana and Rajasthan. She also thanked Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju saying the first Delhi-Bathinda-Jammu connection was also started during NDA tenure in 2016. Harsimrat said that she was also working to start flight service to Nanded from Bathinda.