Slamming previous governments in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the state was shown “false dreams” by the previous governments and they kept it in “deprivation” and “darkness”. Speaking on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of Noida International Airport here, PM Modi said, “Uttar Pradesh which the previous governments kept in deprivation and darkness, is making its mark not only nationally but also internationally.” The Prime Minister cited Jewar airport as an example of how the earlier governments in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre ignored the development of western Uttar Pradesh. “Two decades ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of the state had conceptualised this project. But later this airport was entangled in the tussle of the earlier governments in Delhi and Lucknow for many years,” he said.
PM Modi also said that the previous government of Uttar Pradesh had written a letter to the Central government and said that the project of this airport should be shelved. “Now with the efforts of a double engine government, we are witnessing the Bhumi Pujan of the same airport,” he added.
The Prime Minister said: “Infrastructure is not part of politics for us but part of national policy (Rashtra Niti). We are making sure that the projects do not get stuck, do not hang in limbo or do not go astray. We try to ensure that the infrastructure work is completed within the stipulated time”.
PM Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at the project site. The airport is being developed by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a 100% subsidiary of the project’s Swiss concessionaire Zurich International Airport AG. Yamuna International Airport Pvt Ltd (YIAPL) is developing Noida International Airport under the PPP model in close partnership with the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the International Airport near Jewar will be developed as an aviation hub which is conceived to provide all the modern, efficient and hi-tech facilities. The airport area when fully operational is expected to have aero and non-aero activities along with MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) facilities. The present project envisages an area of land requirement measuring 3,500 acres. In the first phase of development, 1,327 hectares of land would be developed.
The Noida International Airport is strategically located—at a road distance of about 72 km from IGI Airport, around 40-45 km from Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, 28 km from Greater Noida, 65 km from Gurugram and 130 km from Agra. The projected cost of the proposed project is estimated at around Rs 15,000-20,000 crore and the development of the first phase of the airport is being done at a cost of around Rs 10,050 crore. The work at the airport is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
Meanwhile, taking to Twitter, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said, “If the BJP government at the Centre would not have stopped the proposal of Firozabad airport during the SP government, then at this time “churis (bangles) would also have got a chance to be associated with jewar (jewellery).” “The development of Uttar Pradesh government would have progressed towards perfection. Only the SP government can give a new flight to the development of UP,” he said further in a tweet. Akhilesh Yadav’s remarks came as a counterattack to PM Modi’s remark of previous governments neglecting development of Uttar Pradesh.