PM to inaugurate Nagpur, Amravati, Shirdi airports virtually on Oct 9

 

 

Vidarbha will witness a significant development this Navratri. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate three airports - Nagpur, Amravati and Shirdi virtually on October 9. Nagpur has a complete set-up for a world-class airport. The GMR Group has bagged the contract to operate the Dr Babasaheb International Airport at Nagpur which will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate the new terminal buildings at Amravati and Shirdi. Till filing of the report, no official confirmation about Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar attending the ceremonies was issued by the State Government. While Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Minister of Revenue, will grace the function at Shirdi and Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister will grace the event at Nagpur. The dispute between GMR and Nagpur’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport was going on since long. The recent Supreme Court judgment has given respite to the Maharashtra Government.

 

Nagpur airport’s work will be shared among Airport Authority of India (AAI), Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and GMR group. But Amravati and Shirdi will have MADC as joint venture company alone. GMR will have to do the work in a phase-wise manner at Nagpur. Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister pursued all these issues and Amravati and Shirdi airports were his dream projects. Government’s decision to rope in Swati Pandey as Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of MADC proved right. In one year she solved major issues in MIHAN and worked on Amravati and Shirdi airports too. Majority of projects including Patanjali too got a momentum as she visited Nagpur and Amravati every week. Public Works Department had built the airstrip at Amravati in 1992 to be taken over by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in 1997. Later, it was transferred to Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).