Prayagraj: The problem of reoccurrence of waterlogging at the civil terminal of Prayagraj at Bamrauli during the rainy season is set to be a thing of the past. To equip the Bamrauli Civil air terminal with a modern drainage system, the state government has sanctioned over Rs 1.48 crore which would be used to get rid of the problem that plagues the area every year during the monsoons.
The drainage system once in place would rid the airport of the annual problem of waterlogging during monsoons that often results in pools of water accumulating even in the apron area where the flights are parked, unloaded and reloaded causing trouble in their smooth operation during the rainy season.
Deputy secretary Satya Prakash Tiwari in his missive dated March 31 to the director, Civil Aviation, UP has conveyed administrative and financial sanction of Rs 1,42,42,000 for the construction of the drainage system for the Prayagraj airport for which a proposal was duly moved by the airport officials and the district administration. A copy of the missive has also been sent to the divisional commissioner and district magistrate of Prayagraj.
Regional Director, Airport Authority of India (AAI), Anchal Prakash expressed his happiness over the sanction of the funds. “The stormwater drainage was causing us problems for the past quite sometime now. The catchment area is higher as compared to the stormwater drain outlet of the airport and as a result, we often faced backflow of the water, especially during heavy rains. This led to waterlogging in the airport apron area, powerhouse and other vital parts causing great inconvenience and hurdles in smooth operations of the flights,” he explained.
We had been pursuing the issue with the district administration and the PWD for a reliable solution to the problem, he added. The director said that he now hoped the work to soon begin for the construction of an effective drainage system by PWD on priority.
In operation since December 2019, the civil airport terminal enclave, which functions in close coordination of Indian Air Force (IAF) set-up in Bamrauli provides direct air connectivity to several cities from Prayagraj including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Indore, Kolkata, Pune, Gorakhpur, Bhopal, Bilaspur and Bhubaneshwar.
The civil airport enclave is currently built on an area of 6,500 square meters in which all facilities are available for passengers. There are four terminals at the enclave and two aerobridges too. The airport currently can handle 300 passengers at a time and presently on average caters up to 1,200 passengers per day. Plans are also afoot to further expand the airport.