Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur to have air connectivity to Delhi; Raipur airport to be developed as cargo hub

Chhattisgarh will now have air connectivity from Bilaspur district to New Delhi and the Raipur airport will be developed as a cargo hub.

These decisions were made at a meeting between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today, according to a release by the Chhattisgarh's Department of Public Relations.

During the meeting, the chief minister reiterated his demand of providing air connectivity from Bilaspur to metropolitan cities under the Regional connectivity scheme (RCS).

The Union Minister immediately announced that Air India flights will run between Bilaspur and the national capital.

Accepting the chief minister's proposal of developing the Raipur airport as cargo hub, the union minister immediately issued instructions to the Chairman of Airport Authority of India to visit the site for inspection next week and take necessary steps in this regard.

Baghel also discussed about starting air services from Ambikapur airport and connecting Jagdalpur airport to metropolitan cities, to which the union minister replied in the affirmative.

He also expressed his gratitude for the recent up-gradation of Bilaspur Airport to 3C VFR category and green signal to air connectivity from Bilaspur to three cities -- Bhopal, Prayagraj, Jabalpur.

The issue of airport and connectivity to Bilaspur was pending for a long time and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had written many letters to the union minister in this regard, read the release.

( With inputs from ANI )