Expansion of Jammu airport is one of many projects that have been hanging fire for so many years. One wonders how we can meet any target if the work moves on with snail’s pace as it does right now. Jammu airport expansion is mired in plethora of complicacies and complexities. First there raged a long and seemingly unending controversy and conflict with the army which had occupied a large chunk of the land that was needed to be vacated if the airport had to be provided with expanded runway. It took years to resolve this problem. After that was done, now we have other logistical problems with Revenue Department, Power Department, Animal Husbandry Department, Agriculture Department etc. There seems no end to problems.
The Governor wanted to go to the root of all these problems and find out what and where are the bottlenecks. The civilian Governments have not been able to clear the mess and make extension of runways possible. Therefore the Governor took along with him top echelons of bureaucracy and conducted an aerial tour of the entire airport area to know exactly what the situation on the ground was. In a high- powered meeting, he reviewed the entire project, understood the bottlenecks and issued clear cut instructions to the concerned fixing the time line for completing the works assigned to the senior administrative officers. From the instructions he has issued to various officers, revenue, animal husbandry, forest, and other departments including the Airport authorities, it trickles down that nothing has been done in this regard by the civilian Governments. This is despite the fact that Jammu airport has enormous strategic importance. Why this has happened remains a mystery.
Jammu airport is handling almost nearly three lakh passengers a year. The number is likely to increase with the passage of time. Firstly, in terms of security preparedness, Jammu is a crucial airport. Secondly, it is the airport where large number of passengers intending to visit the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi land. The number of pilgrim tourists is increasing at a fast pace year after year. And thirdly since for a good number of days in winter the national highway connecting Jammu with Srinagar and Leh remains closed owing either to heavy snowfall or landslides etc. Jammu airport becomes very busy. It becomes the life line for the period during which traffic on the National Highway remains suspended. Keeping all these factors in view, expansion of Jammu airport is a priority that has to be completed in shortest possible time.
The runway of this airport is expected to be extended to 8000 feet from existing 6700 feet which would enable all types of aircrafts to land and take off from this airport. Along with that the airport complex will also have to be expanded and developed accordingly. An important aspect of the modernization of the Jammu airport is that there should be an alternative road that links the airport with the main part of the city. The part of the road that connects the city with the airport is crowded and congested and one is never sure to reach the airport in time in view of traffic jams and bottlenecks. No doubt the flyover is under construction from Bikram Chowk to the Convent and that might ease the traffic to some extent, but an alternative connectivity to the airport is unavoidable. That is going to become part of the project of expansion of the airport.
After the runway is extended at Jammu airport, we hope that night air service will also be introduced as has been done in the case of Srinagar airport. That would immensely improve connectivity of Jammu with the rest of the country. We are hopeful that the instructions issued by the Governor will be followed in letter and in spirit and by 2017; extension of Jammu airport along with all attending requirements will be complete and functional. We highly appreciate the steps taken by the Governor in this behalf.
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