Shirdi airport on cards

A US-based company, Wrights Inc, has already submitted a feasibility report on the proposal to the Airports Authority of India, and the construction of the airport is expected to be carried out on lines of the airport near the holy shrine of Tirupati in Chennai. The airport at Tirupati was built with the sole purpose of avoiding additional pressure of passengers visiting the shrine landing at the Chennai airport.

The chief minister has explained in the letter that like Tirupati, Shirdi too attracted lakhs of devotees of Sai Baba from all over the world round the year, and the absence of a direct railwayline to the place had made the construction of an airport inevitable. At present, Shirdi is approachable by road from Manmad or Kopargaon. Many tourists also prefer to take the bus route from Nashik to visit Shirdi.

Though there is an airport at Ozar near Shirdi, the government cannot use it for commercial purposes due to the operations of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd there, Rane stated in the letter. The facility at Ozar is also used by the Indian Air Force.

According to sources at Mantralaya, the construction of an airport is part of a major development drive being planned for Shirdi by the State Government. The town has already witnessed a spurt in tourism industry, with scores of luxury and semi-luxury hotels coming up in the last five years, changing the very face of the once simple town that Shirdi used to be.