Centre grounds Akhilesh's Agra airport dream

Instead government has given a go ahead for an international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida to decongest New Delhi airport

The union civil aviation ministry's nod for an international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida to decongest New Delhi airport has effectively grounded the dream of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav for an international airport in Agra.

Now, the proposal would be put before the union cabinet for final vetting and approval.

Soon after coming to power in March 2012, the Akhilesh government had scrapped the Jewar international airport project and instead started pitching for an airport in Agra to cater the Taj Mahal-Braj tourist circuit.

The government had even identified land near Etmadpur, about 16 km from Agra City, for the mega international airport project.

The government had also set up an empowered committee for the airport. Since, Agra division is devoid of international airport, the tourists take a detour from the nearest airport in New Delhi and reach Agra by road.

The Jewar airport was proposed in 2001 as an aviation hub to rival New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. The project was duly approved by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2003, when Mayawati was heading the UP government in her earlier stint.

During her 2007-2012 rule, Mayawati had vigorously pushed for international airport at Jewar, although it was within the 150 km radius of the international airport in the national capital. The existing rules prevent setting up another airport within 150 km radius unless approved on case to case basis.

Her regime had even planned to get the airport operational before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but the project could never take off pending the required central clearances. The project was estimated to cost nearly Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) and handle 4 million passengers annually.

Even the techno-feasibility study of the airport hub had been completed and submitted to the centre for action and bidding document prepared, but nothing emerged of it.

Commenting on Jewar airport, a senior bureaucrat in the UP chief minister's office said the matter had not been officially communicated to the state.

"The matter would be discussed when it comes to us. Any project of such magnitude could take off only with the cooperation of the respective state government," he noted requesting anonymity.