Jharsuguda airport to connect six cities; Bhubaneswar airport gets Rs 1050 cr

New Delhi: Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said commercial flights from Jharsuguda airport to six cities of the country will begin under UDAN-3 scheme.

Under the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN), Odisha’s second airport at Jharsuguda will be connected to Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Mumbai, Raipur, Hyderabad and Delhi in UDAN-3.

Bhubaneswar will be connected to Varanasi, Rourkela, Kalaikunda and Jagdalpur. Additionally, the new airport at Rourkela will be connected to Raipur and Bhubaneswar under UDAN- 3, said Pradhan.

Besides, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to invest Rs 1050 crore for the upgradation of Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar.

Pradhan said the ministry has commissioned upgradation and development of existing terminal and a new integrated terminal 3 at a cost of over Rs. 1050 crores.

A total amount of over Rs 160 crores have been sanctioned for development of airports at Jharsuguda, Jeypore, Utkela and Rourkela, taking the cumulative allocation to over Rs. 1200 crores for development of airports and air connectivity in Odisha since 2014.

After Karnataka, Odisha also receives the 2nd highest Viability Gap Funding (VGF) allocation among all States in India with a VGF amount of Rs.101 crores per annum, said the Minister.