BHAGALPUR: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought pre-feasibility reports (PFRs) on seven aspects for constructing a greenfield airport at a new location, either in the Sultanganj block or the Goradih block of the district.
The choice of deputy CM-cum-finance minister, Samrat Chowdhary, for the new airport has been Sultanganj. He is of the view that Sultanganj is strategically located and has connectivity with several districts. Moreover, the place is the starting point of the month-long Shrawani Mela, during which crores of people visit Sultanganj to fetch holy water from the Ganga river before walking to Deoghar to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva.
Officials in the district administration said the AAI, in its directive to the local administration, has sought the PFRs from the Indian meteorological department (IMD) on the ‘wind rose diagram’. This diagram provides a concise circular representation of wind speed and direction distribution, illustrating the frequency of winds blowing from particular directions over a specified period.
Bhagalpur DM Nawal Kishor Choudhary said they are working as per guidelines of the AAI to select suitable site for a new airport in the district. “The suitable place for the airport would be jointly decided by the AAI and the state govt,” the DM added.
The PFRs on the other six issues sought by the AAI include river canals at the proposed lands, road conditions, an aerial map of the electrical high-tension wires/lines, the nature of the soil along with a soil testing report from the department concerned, temperature statistics of the region from the IMD, the height of the proposed land vis-à-vis sea level, and a drainage layout plan.
Following a report sought by the AAI, a high-level team from the minor irrigation department, along with officials from electricity, circle, and district offices, visited the proposed sites in Sultanganj and Goradih blocks a couple of days ago.
Nearly 855 acres of land in Sultanganj and 660.57 acres in Goradih are being considered for the construction of a new airport. This exercise is apart from repairing the existing airfield in Bhagalpur city that has been lying defunct.
Earlier, attempts were also made to start air services from Bhagalpur under the ‘Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)—Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik UDAN’ in accordance with PM Narendra Modi’s RCS-UDAN scheme, but nothing moved forward in the recent past.
In March 2024, the state cabinet approved a new, bigger airport at Bhagalpur and directed the local administration to earmark a suitable chunk of land for passenger and commercial transportation of goods through air.
Even in 1983, commercial air services were started by private operators by deploying a couple of small aircraft from the Bhagalpur airfield. However, due to low passenger volume at that time, the air services were withdrawn. Due to rising demands, several attempts have been made to restart air services from Bhagalpur since the 1990s, but nothing concrete has been done so far.
