Union minister Mahesh Sharma receives proposal from UP CM for Jewar airport

Despite the flip-flop between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government regarding the setting up of a second airport in the NCR, the project might finally take off. As per Union minister Mahesh Sharma, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has written to him proposing an international airport at Jewar. Sharma told TOI that he will now start the process of clearances for the site once he receives a formal detailed project report from UP.

Speaking to TOI, Sharma said that he received the official proposal from the chief minister late evening on December 7. “I have also received a copy of the letter Akhilesh Yadav has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his government wants to build airports at Jewar as well as at Agra,” Sharma said. “The CM’s letter written directly to me clearly states that his government is keen on building an international airport at Jewar and another at Firozabad near Hirangaon, Agra,” he said.

The minister further said that he would send a reply back to the CM within a week. “I will ask the CM to send us a formal proposal along with a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed airports for site clearances and approvals from the Aviation Ministry for approval and further action,” Sharma said. “Once we have the formal proposal along with the DPR, we will clear the proposal on a war footing,” he said. “We have land and funds for the projects. While Jewar will offload some traffic from the Delhi international airport, Agra will cater to tourists visiting the city and other important places in UP,” he added.

Akhilesh Yadav had on November 16 while inaugurating the UP pavilion at the India International Trade Fair in New Delhi had said that his government was ready to develop airports in both Jewar and Agra. “Our authorities have sufficient funds to make necessary arrangements and buy land for the projects. But we want the support of the Centre,” he had said.

However, for an airport to come up in Jewar, a policy that doesn’t allow two greenfield airports within 150km of each other, unless one is overburdened, will have to be amended. The Jewar airport proposal has been hanging fire for years, first mooted in 2001 by Rajnath Singh, the CM of UP then. Mayawati, too, pushed for it when she succeeded him as CM. But in 2012 the Akhilesh Yadav government scrapped the project, citing the clause that bars development of a second airport close to an existing one. Yadav instead pitched for Saifai as one of the three new options where an airport could come up.