Letter to BS: New airport in Sikkim's Pakyong will boost tourism

It was good to note the opening of India's 100th airport at Pakyong, with Sikkim being the last of the Indian states to be connected through an airport. It is ironical that it took successive governments such a long time to open a full fledged airport in Sikkim after it joined Indian Union in 1975. The opening of a new airport will certainly boost the tourism sector as well as related industries. The dependence on the Bagdogra airport to travel to Sikkim by air will be reduced and it will also boost the Ministry of Civil Aviation's UDAAN scheme. Now Sikkim will have to undertake massive infrastructure development and the government should leave no stone unturned to aid the state's development. Being landlocked and surrounded by international borders aligning with Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and China, the airport should be upgraded to an international status. This will enhance connectivity with the neighboring SAARC countries.   

The opening of a new airport is highly commendable but it is not as significant a feat as compared to the massive aviation infrastructure growth elsewhere in the world. India's infrastructure growth through the development of new greenfield airports and the civil aviation ministry's NABH (Nextgen Airports for Bharat) initiative now needs a robust push to achieve the milestone of 100 airports in India  by 2020.
 

Varun SD  Bengaluru

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