LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, July 30: The Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia and Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh virtually flagged off a direct flight between Delhi and Deoghar by Indigo on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.
“Baba Baidya Nath Dham in Deoghar is an international religious heritage, and it gives me immense pleasure to state that my ministry has helped millions of pilgrims to visit Deoghar. Along with the country’s hard economic power, we need to dovetail the country’s soft power too. That’s the reason why major aviation infrastructure is created at places such as Ayodhya International Airport, Kushinagar International Airport and now Deoghar Airport,” Scindia said.
Deoghar Airport, the second airport in Jharkhand after Ranchi, is spread over 655 acres and is constructed at a cost of Rs 400 crore. The government is working on three more airports in Jharkhand – Bokaro, Jamshedpur and Dumka.
“On July 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Deoghar will be connected with Delhi and today it is coming true. Flight is being captained by Rajiv Pratap Rudy,” the minister said, congratulating Indigo for connecting smaller cities in the country. The day is not far when civil aviation will be the primary source of travel in India, he added.
“We have announced 14 new routes connecting Jharkhand out of which 2 routes – Deoghar – Kolkata and Delhi – Deoghar have been started and in the coming days, we will connect Deoghar with Ranchi and Patna. Along with this, we will connect Dumka with Ranchi and Kolkata. Bokaro airport once completed will be connected with Patna and Kolkata,” he said.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said, “This will help facilitate seamless movement of pilgrims coming to Baba Baidya Nath Dham which will increase tourism in Jharkhand, and I hope that other airlines will adopt the same route for more flights to Deoghar.”
Jharkhand Minister for Tourism Hafizul Hasan, Godda Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey, Deoghar MLA Narayan Das, Dumka MLA Sunil Soren, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajeev Bansal, and many other dignitaries from MoCA, Jharkhand government and Indigo were virtually present at the event.
The airline has deployed A320 Neo, a 180-seater twin turbofan engine passenger aircraft, which is primarily used on domestic routes. With this new flight, Deoghar will have 11 daily departure flights.
