New airports being constructed in India at unprecedented speed: PM Modi

The speed with which new airports are being constructed and the UDAN scheme is covering the far-flung areas of the country is unprecedented, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech on Sunday.

The Centre has accorded in-principle approval for setting up of 21 greenfield airports across the country of which six have been constructed and operationalised till now, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh had stated on August 5 in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports, and keep airfares affordable.

The scheme was started in 2016.

In his speech, the PM said "Today, the speed with which new airports are being constructed in the country, and the way UDAN scheme is connecting the far-flung areas, it is unprecedented."

"Today, we are seeing how better air connectivity is giving wings to people's dreams," he added.

The Centre has accorded in-principle approval for setting up of 21 greenfield airports across the country: Mopa in Goa; Navi Mumbai, Sindhudurg and Shirdi in Maharashtra; Bijapur, Hassan, Kalaburagi and Shimoga in Karnataka; Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh; Kushinagar and Jewar (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh; Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat; Karaikal in Puducherry; Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Orvakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh; Durgapur in West Bengal; Pakyong in Sikkim; Kannur in Kerala; Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.

Singh had also said on August 5 that out of the aforementioned 21 airports, six greenfield airports namely, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala, Orvakal(Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh and Kalaburagi in Karnataka have been operationalized.

"Proposals for Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, Kottayam in Kerala, Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and Purandar (Pune) in Maharashtra have also been received under the Greenfield Airports Policy," Singh had said.