A team of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had inspected an airstrip at Newal near Kurukshetra in last October last year to check the feasibility of a domestic airport. AAI findings are yet to be made public. The Karnal MP Arvind Sharma is demanding airport for his constituency.
Kurukshetra is the most visited place of Haryana where lakhs of people from various communities visit the place associated with the Bhagwada Gita and nine Sikh Gurus. An airport in the holy city is needed to promote spiritual and cultural tourism, veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Ishwar Singh said. He said the-then chief minister, Bansi Lal, had first raised the demand for an airport at Kurukshetra but somehow it did not materliase, he added.
Singh said that while the State government was promoting temples such as Akshardham, ISKCON and Tirupati Balaji which attract tourists from all over the world but want the city devoid of an airport facility.
The Central government has mooted a plan to convert Kurukshetra into a major tourist destination but the absence of an airport would defeat the project, Singh said. Since there is no tourist or business destination in Karnal, Kurukshetra is a logical choice for a modern facility, he added.
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