New Delhi:
On May 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew out of Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Durgapur in West Bengal. But formally, the airport opened on Monday, with celebrities taking the first Alliance Air flight from Kolkata to Durgapur. Flight time was 35 minutes, the ticket cost Rs 2500.
Another airline will connect Durgapur to Bagdogra and Cooch Behar.
"I think it's very important for me to say to you that there was a dream that Mamata Banerjee dreamed that Bengal will have the first ever green field airport of India. And that has happened," West Bengal's Finance Minister Amit Mitra said.
Among a bevy of celebrities who took the first flight was an upbeat Dev, Trinamool Congress lawmaker and actor.
"I think it will help the state, help the people over here, help the business because Durgapur is a junction where there is a huge business opportunity," he said.
India's first greenfield airport, privately built by Bengal Aerotropolis Private Limited (BAPL) and Singapore's Changi Airports International, the project cost 750 crore rupees. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given a tax waiver on air turbine fuel for six years to give air traffic here a leg up.
Partha Ghosh, managing director of BAPL, said , "We have also simultaneously asked the government of India, ministry of civil aviation to come up with some special packages because regional airport development is something which governmentt of India is also planning. Here is one live example."
There are those who question the airport's financial viablility. But the state government certainly hopes it will give the industrial belt in and around Durgapur a boost. And beyond.