Ayodhya airport set to become international, to be expanded by 600 acres

With the ground breaking ceremony of the Ram temple done, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to expand the airport at Ayodhya. The proposed Shri Ram Airport at Ayodhya will now be expanded by up to 600 acres. The state government has decided to upgrade it to international standards. Earlier the state government had decided to acquire 285 acres of land for this airport.

The civil aviation minister of UP, Nandgopal Gupta Nandi, who arrived in Ayodhya on Wednesday, informed that the airport here will now be expanded and named after Lord Ram. He said that the airport in Ayodhya would have landing facility for 777 Boeings and double decker planes. Once completed, the Ayodhya airport will have air connectivity with major cities in the country and abroad. The state government last year, had decided to upgrade the exist airstrip into a full-fledged airport.

The civil aviation minister said that so far Rs 525 crore fund has been approved for the airport in Ayodhya and of this, Rs 300 crore have been spent so far. The state government had sanctioned Rs 500 crore for the Ayodhya airport in the annual budget for this year. Earlier in FY20, the state government had sanctioned Rs 200 crore for it. Nandi said the process of land acquisition for the Ayodhya airport is going on and will be completed very soon. The first phase of the airport is likely to be completed with the construction of Ram temple. Moreover, the state government is also developing airports at Azamgarh, Sonbhadra and Aligarh. Very soon, air services will begin from the newly constructed international airport at Kushinagar.

The state government had sent a proposal to the Centre for developing the airport at Ayodhya under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS). Now it has decided to upgrade it into an international airport. The state government also is developing state of the art railway station and bus station also. A 192-kilometer highway connecting Ayodhya with Varanasi is also under construction.