BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister
Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged the Centre to introduce direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat in Gujarat.
In a letter to Union civil aviation minister
Suresh Prabhu, the chief minister said though lakhs of Odia people have settled in Surat and are engaged in the textile industry, there is no direct air connectivity between these two places.
“It takes a lot of time to travel by air between these two cities. During the hours of urgent necessity, Odia people living in Surat face untold difficulties in reaching Odisha in time,” Naveen said.
According to sources, more than 5 lakh people from Odisha mostly from Ganjam work in the power loom industry in Surat. Train service is the only medium of direct communication between Bhubaneswar and Surat.
As people from both the cities visit places of tourist interest in and around the two cities every year, Naveen said air connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Surat can give rise to tourist inflow to both the places.
“Therefore, I request you to impress upon
Air India and other private airlines to introduce direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat at the earliest,” Naveen added.
Earlier, the chief minister had requested the Centre to introduce direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Pune in February which is yet to be considered by the Union civil aviation ministry.
