Since the formation of the State Government in March under the leadership of Hon'ble Chief minister Bhagwant Mann all-out sincere and serious efforts are being made for early start of the Halwara Airport.
A few meetings at the government-level have already taken place on the issue. Sanjeev Arora, MP (Rajya Sabha) is also continuously pursing the matter. He has even held a meeting with Chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) besides holding a meeting with the CA GLADA cum Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana.
Two internal meetings of the state government have also taken place in this regard. It has been decided in these meetings that the remaining expenditure is to be borne by the state government itself.
Giving further details, Sanjeev Arora, MP said the state government has so far spent Rs.52 crores on the project. This amount has been spent on acquiring land and constructing roads. Now, an initial terminal is to be set up at a cost of around Rs.12-15 crores.
The State Government has held a meeting to finalise as to which department will monitor expenditure on the same. The remaining expenditure is also to be met by the state government itself.
Arora said once the Halwara Airport gets functional then the Sahnewal Airport will be closed and the AAI will commercialise this airport. Once the Sahnewal Airport is monetised then the state government will get its 51% of invested money back from the AAI.
In the meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also shot off a letter to Minister for Civil Aviation that the payment be released against monetization of the Sahnewal Airport.
“However, the state government has decided that it will not wait for release of the payment from the AAI and it will set up initial terminal of the Halwara Airport on its own resources”, he said.
Arora added that Rajya Sabha MP and AAP leader Raghav Chadha who is also chairman of the state advisory committee on matters of public interest is also taking personal interest so that the Halwara Airport should start functioning.