Built at a cost of Rs 600 crore the brand-new Durgapur Airport saw the last Air India flight fly out on Wednesday just a year after its inauguration.
On the day the NDA Government announced its new civil aviation policy to boost connectivity to smaller cities across India, Air India withdrew flights to Durgapur in West Bengal due to operational reasons.
Built at a cost of Rs 600 crore the brand-new Durgapur Airport saw the last Air India flight fly out on Wednesday just a year after its inauguration. The move comes as a huge blow to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's plans to rejuvenate industry in the region. Local industry bodies are worried too.
Subrata Dutta, who represents a local industry body told reporters, "There will be a big loss because of the flight being stopped. So the businessmen who get goods here and the businessmen from Delhi who come here will stop coming. Many industries coming from Delhi with investments will stop."
The Trinamool and the BJP blame each other for the mess. The BJP says the airport was merely a front for a mega real-estate deal while the Trinamool smells a conspiracy by the Centre to upset Ms Banerjee's development plans for West Bengal, and the region in particular.
BJP lawmaker from Asansol, Babul Supriyo, told NDTV, "It's basically a part of a huge land deal, about a property vendor, about a housing venture and the airport was one way to showcase that project. It was like a candy in the eye, for people to get camouflaged, for the entire project to get camouflaged in the name of an airport."
Trinamool legislator and Chairman of Asansol Durgapur Development Authority, Tapas Banerjee, told NDTV, "When Bengal under Mamata Banerjee is speeding forward in every sphere, I believe this is a vicious conspiracy by the Central government to undo the effort by Mamata Banerjee who had initiated and established the airport with her blood and sweat."
The developers of the project say Air India's high cost of operations made flights to the city unsustainable. In a statement to NDTV, Bengal Aerotropolis Private Limited said, "BAPL is in advanced level of talks with some of the major private airline operators to operate flights from Durgapur to all other major metros, starting with New Delhi and Mumbai. The positive outcome of these discussions will be made public soon."