- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, March 17, 2022 : Another airport at Kailashahar in Unakoti district is coming up in Tripura soon, said Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday.
In a press conference at Tripura Legislative Assembly premises here in Agartala on Thursday evening, Deb said “A new airport is going to be operationalized at Kailashahar and the central government is sanctioning funds soon”.
He claimed that the central fund is likely to be around Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore for the construction and infrastructural development of the new airport at Kailashahar, which is about 139 KMs away from Agartala.
“People of Kailashahar and undivided northern Tripura had been demanding to operationalize the Airport for a long time. Now, the central government has stressed significantly on it”, he added.
Earlier on October 06, 2021, Vice-President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu today in a program of Smart City in Agartala city expressed his utmost concern over the functioning of Kailashahar airport through helicopter services.
Naidu opined “Efforts are on to make Kailashahar airport operational besides promoting new destinations through helicopter services. We need to connect with all the South East Asian Countries. It should become an international destination so that the developmental story gets momentum”.
Later on December 01, 2021, a team of Airport Authority of India (AAI) led by its Director Rajesh Kapur visited Kailashahar airport. The team inspected the spaces for the renovation in the southern and northern part of the airport where around 22 families will be rehabilitated. Director Rajesh Kapoor said, “Under the instruction of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, they have visited the airport with an aim to make it operational. For this purpose, the team inspected the areas feasible for a secured airport along with repairing the airport boundary wall”.
A six-member team of the AAI on December 28, 2021 visited the project site of Kailashahar’s Hiracherra to study the feasibility for reconnecting air services. The team has also inspected the runway of the abandoned airport at Kaliashahar’s Durgapur and its adjacent areas. AAI joint general managers- S.D. Barman, Rajib Sharma, and Debdulal Chowdhury, assistant general manager Jitendra Utreja, assistant manager Bikrant Bagri and senior manager (construction) Gourav Yadav were part of the delegation.
It is worthy to mention here that the Kailashahar airport which lay defunct since 1991 is going to be operational with Helicopter services shortly. Kailashahar airport, one of the oldest airports, came into existence with the small runway in 1950, three years after the formation of East Bengal (East Pakistan). The airport was set up to develop the communication system as most of the parts of Princely state, Tripura remained detached due to partition.
