Patna. The dream of international flight from Bihta Airport is now close. Bihar government has acquired a total of 134 acres of land for the expansion of the airport. Patna district administration has handed over 126 acres of land to the airport authority in the first phase. The process of handing over the remaining eight acres of land will be completed by next month. With the receipt of 134 acres of land, efforts to construct the terminal building of the airport have begun. According to officials, the work of selecting the construction agency has started. Tender will be floated soon for the construction of the terminal.
The dream of international flight will come true
Currently, Patna and Gaya airports in Bihar have the status of international airports, but there are no international flights from Patna. Even from Gaya, only special service flights operate to a few countries. In such a situation, after the completion of Bihta Airport, the dream of international flights from Bihar can come true. International flights are also expected to start after the construction of a new terminal at Darbhanga Airport. Efforts are also being made to start flights from Purnia Airport as the fifth airport of Bihar. It is expected that flight services will start there also after the construction of the new terminal building.
Transfer of land after six years
Preparations for the expansion of the airport have been going on in Bihta for the last six years. After the completion of land acquisition work, construction work is now expected to start. District administration and airport authority have met several times regarding land acquisition. Last year on December 16, the Airport Authority had demanded eight more acres of land from the district administration. This has also been approved. Officials say that the construction work of the terminal building will be done in the first phase. The Civil Aviation Ministry may soon issue a tender for this. After the agency is selected, the construction work will be started.
State government will also have some land at Bihta Airport
According to officials, out of the land acquired by the district administration, the state government will keep about 24 acres of land for its own use. State hangar will be constructed in it. State government helicopters and planes will be kept there. Apart from this, necessary infrastructure will also be created. However, no official decision has been taken yet regarding what will be built there. Patna District Land Acquisition Officer Ranjan Kumar Chaudhary said that 134 acres of land has been made available out of the land sought by the airport administration. 126 acres of land was given in the first phase. After this, eight more acres of land was sought, which has been approved. This information has been given to the airport authority. Now the airport administration can get whatever construction work it wants done on the land.
Expansion efforts have been going on since 2017
Notification for land acquisition for the expansion of Bihta Airport was issued in July 2017. In this, 126 acres of land was to be given to the Airport Authority. There were many obstacles in land acquisition. Even farmers protested many times. Finally, on July 17, 2018, the DM of Patna wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat Department and informed that the land sought for the airport has been taken over. It took almost a year for the district administration to acquire the land for the airport and take possession of it, as there were many major hurdles which the authorities had to struggle to overcome.