Rajasansi airport waits for cargo terminal nod

While corporate giants like Reliance and Bharti are entering agro-processing and eyeing exports to West Asia and Europe, cargo handling at Rajasansi Airport, the only international airport in Punjab, is suffering because the Customs authorities are yet to give the green signal to the cargo terminal.

According to the feasibility report prepared by the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and the Agriculture and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA), there is an export potential of Rs 100 crore per day.

The cargo terminal was built three years ago with a project cost of Rs 7 crore and it has the capacity to handle 1,400 metric tonnes of cargo per day. Even the X-ray scanner, placed three years ago, was up-to-date at that time, and was not available at any airport in India.

"But due to the custodianship problem and also to some issues before the Airports Authority of India, it didn't take off," Airport Director V S Mulekar said.

Also, adjoining the cargo terminal, a fabricated cold chain facility too is yet to start operation. It has the capacity to handle 1,000 metric tonnes of fresh vegetables or fruits per day and has been built at Rs 1.5 crore for handling the export of perishable cargo. The reason is the same--it is yet to receive the go-head signal from the Customs authorities.

Talking to Business Standard, Mulekar said, "We have applied for the custodianship and I hope in 2-3 weeks we get the custodianship letter, and very soon it would start operation." Once it starts, it can facilitate a large number of Indian and foreign companies that had been exploring the opportunity to export perishable agricultural produce to Europe and the Middle East.

But he said the cargo terminal lacked space. "Keeping in view the number of big corporate giants entering the agro-processing sector in Punjab like Bharti, Reliance, and ITC, there is an urgent need to double the capacity. There is great potential for agricultural exports due to change in agricultural policy by the Punjab government like switching from paddy to contract farming."