Construction of greenfield airport in Kota progressing rapidly: Om Birla

Kota-Bundi MP Om Birla on Wednesday said the construction of the proposed greenfield airport in Kota was progressing fast.

Birla, along with officials of the Airport Authority of India, visited the site of the proposed airport in Shambupura village of Bundi district.

He said the formalities for land allotment for the proposed airport have been completed and a Memorandum of Understanding for shifting of high-tension power lines was also signed today.

The work to shift the power lines would begin soon, Birla, who is also a Lok Sabha Speaker, told reporters here.

Work on preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the airport is also underway, he added.

The proposed airport is located around 15 km from Kota and around 20 km from Bundi, Birla said, adding that once it is complete, it would contribute to the growth of the region.

Having a regular airport with commercial flights has been a longstanding demand here and makes its way inevitably to election campaigns. It had been an election issue in the 2018 assembly polls as well as in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Over two lakh students move to Kota annually to prepare for engineering and medical entrance exams JEE and NEET. Several of them travel from far-flung areas and have to come to Kota via New Delhi, Jaipur or Udaipur in the absence of a regular airport here.

The Kota airport became a bone of contention between the Congress, which had its government in the state till November last year, and the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, as both sides blamed each other for the delay in the construction of the project.

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