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Uttar Pradesh government is keen to providing wings to the proposed airport project in Kanpur.
A state government proposal is pending with the Ministry of Defence for allowing night landing facility at the Defence Airport in Kanpur.
State chief secretary Jawed Usmani has directed officials to put up their case strongly before the defence ministry for the permission.
Besides, there is a proposal to identify land in Kanpur Dehat district for setting up a new airport. The officials have been asked to speedily draft an action plan in this regard.
Earlier, union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had appealed the Akhilesh government to provide 50-acre land to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for infrastructural expansion of Kanpur airport.
AAI had a proposal for construction of a modern airport at Chakeri in two phases. Air services in Kanpur are currently being serviced from the airport designated for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Kanpur is an important industrial, trade and commerce centre of UP.
Under the composite development plan of Kanpur, the district jail is proposed to be shifted to the outskirts. A two storey jail complex spread over 100 acres and a capacity to lodge 3,000 inmates has been proposed.
Meanwhile, two more airports are proposed in the state viz. Kushinagar and Agra under the public private partnership (PPP) model. While, the government had acquired land for the Kushinagar airport, the process to finalise the spot for the proposed airport in Agra had been on.
The Kushinagar airport project was estimated at Rs 350 crore spread over 615 acres. About Rs 210 crore had been paid in compensation for land acquisition.
The airport is aimed at boosting the Buddhist tourist circuit comprising several eastern UP districts and the adjoining areas of Bihar. Tourists from the world over, especially Japan and south east Asian countries visit the region, which has monuments and places related to Lord Buddha.
Top companies in the aviation sector, including GVK and GMR had shown interest in the proposed Kushinagar international airport project.
