Nearly seven years after the Punjab government approved the project, with missing deadlines since 2018, the newly constructed Halwara airport civil terminal building will be inaugurated virtually via video-conferencing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27.
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain said following a confirmation from the Airport Authority of India (AAI), preparations for the event have been commenced.
The terminal has been constructed near the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Halwara, Raikot sub-division in Ludhiana district, following a long pending demand of local residents for an “international airport” in the district.
Initially, the new terminal building is meant to cater just one domestic flight at a time, with a capacity of 150 passengers each for arrival and departure for a flight. While this building is set to be inaugurated on July 27, there is yet no confirmation on when flight operations would begin there.
“Neither we have any schedule on when flights would begin from the new terminal nor do we know which carrier would commence the first flight. It would probably be Air India, which might operate a flight to Delhi, but there is no confirmation yet. Some security permissions and other work are still pending. The building would be inaugurated on July 27, as per the schedule received from the Centre,” an official said, requesting anonymity.
The official further said: “A discussion to shift the lone FlyBig Ludhiana-Delhi flight, which currently operates from Sahnewal domestic airport, to the new Halwara terminal — following which Sahnewal facility will be closed permanently — is underway.”
Addressing a press conference on the development works in Ludhiana on Friday, Punjab’s Industries and Commerce, Investment Promotion and NRI Affairs Minister Sanjeev Arora said PM Modi would inaugurate the new terminal building. “The AAI, in collaboration with the district administration, has been finalising preparations for the inauguration. The terminal will be dedicated to the public on July 27, with Air India to announce flight commencement dates thereafter,” Arora said.
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Arora — who recently won the Ludhiana West bypoll on AAP ticket — was previously a Rajya Sabha member from Ludhiana, and had been following up on the Halwara terminal project with the Centre.
While the successive Punjab governments — currently led by the AAP and earlier by the Congress — have claimed the upcoming Halwara airport to be an “international” facility, it will apparently take several years for it to become a reality. An international airport in Ludhiana has been a long pending demand of industrialists and businessmen, who currently have to take flights from Delhi, Amritsar or Chandigarh, despite the city being an industrial hub.
Issue over the name
Though the airport has been named “Halwara airport” due to its proximity to the IAF’s Halwara base, the terminal is located in Aitiana village where at least 272 farmers have given away over 162 acres of land for the project. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann earlier announced the AAP government had proposed that the Halwara airport should be renamed after local hero, freedom fighter, and Ghadar revolutionary Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha, who was hanged by the British when he was just 19. He belonged to Sarabha village in Ludhiana district. The Centre, however, is yet to approve the proposed name, sources said.
The inexplicable delay
- Even as the Punjab cabinet approved the “international civil terminal” project for Halwara in December 2018, under the previous Congress government, and the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) took possession of 161.27 acres of land for the project in May 2020, the civil work got delayed due to fund crunch.
- Although the Public Works Department (PWD), Punjab government, was allotted the civil work in December 2021, with the deadline to complete the terminal by June 2022, funds were not released until November 2022 and the contractor stopped the work midway.
- The work was restarted only by December 2022 after the intervention of CM Bhagwant Mann, and funds were released. It was decided the entire cost would be borne by the Punjab government, and the AAI would reimburse it later.
- Minister Sanjeev Arora said once the Halwara airport is functional, the city’s Sahnewal domestic airport would be closed, with the AAI commercialising it. “Once the Sahnewal airport is monetised, the state government would get 51% of the money invested in Halwara back from the AAI,” Arora said.