Halwara airport civil terminal inauguration by PM Modi postponed from July 27
The Halwara airport civil terminal has been constructed near the IAF base in the Ludhiana district of Punjab.
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the new terminal building is meant to cater just one domestic flight at a time. (Express File Photo)The inauguration of the newly constructed Halwara airport civil terminal building in Punjab’s Ludhiana district by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been postponed, confirmed officials Thursday. PM Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the building virtually on July 27.
Confirming that the event now stands postponed, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Himanshu told The Indian Express, “We have been informed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials that the event has been postponed. No specific reason has been given for it yet.”
The civil terminal has been constructed near the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Halwara of Raikot sub-division in Ludhiana district, following the long-pending demand of Ludhiana residents to have an “international airport” in the district.
Even though the project was approved by the Punjab cabinet in 2018 during the previous Congress government, it missed several deadlines, and the building was completed after an understandable delay of more than seven years.
While Industry Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Ludhiana West MLA Sanjeev Arora had announced that PM Modi would inaugurate the terminal virtually on July 27, there was no confirmation on when flights would commence from the new facility.
Initially, the new terminal building is meant to cater just one domestic flight at a time, with a capacity to handle 150 passengers each for arrival and departure.
Currently, only one flight from Ludhiana to Hindon (Ghaziabad) and vice versa operates from Sahnewal domestic airport, an old facility in the Ludhiana district, which is expected to shut down once the Halwara terminal is operationalised.
An international airport in Ludhiana has been a long-pending demand of industrialists and business people who currently have to take flights from Delhi, Amritsar or Chandigarh, despite the city being an industrial hub.
Successive Punjab governments, currently led by the AAP and earlier by the Congress, have claimed that the upcoming airport at Halwara will be an “international” facility.
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