Chandigarh, August 6, 2024 (Yes Punjab News)
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today urged union minister for civil aviation Rammohan Naidu to upgrade Bathinda to an international airport and introduce international flights from Bathinda to Canada to facilitate the huge number of students studying there as well as families who were travelling to and fro between the two destinations.
The Bathinda MP also called for introducing a daily Delhi- Bathinda Alliance air flight utilizing Boeing aircraft and flights under regional connectivity scheme UDAN. She also urged for the introduction of flights linking the two holy Takhts of Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded and Sri Patna Sahib.
Providing details, Mrs Harsirmat Badal said Bathinda was positioned as a strategic hub connecting eight districts across three States in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan spanning from Sirsa in Haryana to Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan encompassing Sangrur, Mansa, Ferozepur and Faridkot districts in Punjab.
She said Bathinda’s importance even extended beyond geographical boundaries as it encompassed Asia’s largest Army cantonment, an Air Force Station, a Central University, a major oil refinery, three thermal plants and the revered Takht of the Sikhs – Sri Damdama Sahib.
She said since there was no airport within a 300 kilometer radius, the city’s airport presented a fit case for upgradation to an international airport. She said since there were a large number of students from the eight districts including those in the adjacent States who were studying in Canada, flights to Canada could be started from Bathinda.
She said this would also facilitate NRIs as well as families who were travelling to and fro between the two destinations and had to presently land in Delhi and then travel by road to their destinations in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Mrs Badal said similarly starting a daily Delhi – Bathinda Alliance air flight would result in the region’s economic and social development. She said while a Delhi- Bathinda – Delhi flight had been flagged off in 2016 and operated five times a week with an impressive 80 per cent occupancy, it was suspended during the Covid pandemic.
She said in September 2023 a Bathinda- Hindon – Bathinda flight had been initiated utilizing ATR aircraft, this should be replaced with a Delhi- Bathinda Alliance flight.
She said linking the two Takhts of Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded and Sri Patna Sahib would facilitate Sikh pilgrims and called for acceding to this long pending demand of the Sikh community. EOM
