Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will inaugurate Pakyong airport, about 30km from state capital Gangtok, bringing Sikkim on to the aviation map and liberating the tiny Himalayan state from its critical dependence on a sole highway for connectivity with the rest of the country.
Landlocked Sikkim has no rail link . The nearest airport in West Bengal’s Bagdogra is 125 km away.
Modi is expected to reach Gangtok on Sunday and he will inaugurate the airport the next morning.
Commercial flights would begin from October 4 when Spicejet would start its daily Kolkata-Sikkim flights. The project was built at a cost of cost of Rs 605.59 crore and is situated at an elevation of 4,600 feet above the sea level.
“The airport will help in the overall development of state and promote tourism. It will also have an important role for the armed forces when NH10 remains closed and in situations of natural calamities such as the earthquake of 2011. The state shares its border with China, Bhutan, Nepal,” said Ugen T Gyatso Bhutia, Sikkim’s civil aviation and tourism minister.
“We have demanded flights between Pakyong, Bhutan and Nepal and to declare Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal as a tourist circuit,” said Sonam Norgay Lachungpa, president of Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim.
NH10 that connects Sikkim with Bengal is often blocked by agitators in Darjeeling district of Bengal, demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Kapil Meena, district magistrate of East Sikkim district said, “Preparations are complete. ”
Arrangements to accommodate 8,000 people have been made at the meeting venue.
On March 5, Indian Air Force’s Dornier 228 had test flights from the airport. On March 10, SpiceJet conducted test runs of the 78-seater Bombardier Q400 from Kolkata to Pakyong.
First Published: Sep 23, 2018 23:31 IST
Source: HindustanTimes