Industry seeks new airport in Bhopal

In accordance with the demand of industry, Madhya Pradesh has the task of developing an international airport in Bhopal, on priority.

Upgrading the existing airport""which connects only with Indore, Mumbai, and Delhi""will require at least Rs 100 crore. District officials and the Airports Authority of India will discuss ways of identifying land for the purpose.

This necessity of such an airport had been made apparent in the discussions that the recent delegation, led by Uma Bharti, had in Bangalore. She had invited big firms like Wipro and Infosys to invest in the state and their condition was that Bhopal should have an international airport.

"Azim Premji, Wipro chief, has shown interest in investment, provided Bhopal has an international airport," said Raghav Chandra, managing director, Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation. Companies asked for an appropriate business climate, he added. He was part of the delegation.

"Bharti's meeting with Premji and Infosys Chief Mentor Narayan Murthy was very fruitful," Chandra said.

The department of industry has constituted a team to survey the feasibility of air connectivity of Bhopal to other parts of the country. Another task force, under the additional chief secretary (home affairs), has been constituted for the expansion of the Bhopal airport. The task force will submit its report in a week.

But the question is, how will the state government arrange funds? "Much will depend on the central government's response in this matter," Chandra said. Premji has evinced interest in expanding Wipro's learning guarantee programme to other districts of the state, apart from the Datia and Vidisha districts, where the programme has already been launched.

Premji's close association with the state goes back to the days when he used to sell vanaspati in Indore, Chandra says, adding that the company has hired a good number of professionals from that city.

Madhya Pradesh aims at being among the top five developed states in the country in the next three years. The focus according to the government statement is on roads, healthcare, education, drinking water, and human resources.

According to the state government, responses to investment proposals of Rs 2,000 crore have been positive.

The state government had announced exemption from duty on captive power generation for five years. It is also offering a special economic package for mega projects having a fixed capital investment of Rs 25 crore or more.