Govt gives 110 acres to Bagdogra Airport for meeting int'l standards

Kolkata: State Tourism minister Gautam Deb on Monday stated that the state government is giving 110 acres of land to Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Bagdogra, to expand the airport in order to make it meet international standards.

On Monday, Deb inaugurated the 9th edition of Destination East, a tourism global meet, organised jointly with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and launched the revamped portal of West Bengal Tourism.

Deb claimed that earlier people had to visit more than one website to fulfill their queries, which has been solved now. "From now on tourists will get all information related to tourist spots in Bengal. As we are focusing on the 'home stay' policy, details of more than three thousand such places have been given in the portal. Tourists can book these as well as government-owned tourist lodges online through the portal," said Deb.

He further informed that since the government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power, the tourism sector has been given special importance and at present, in terms of arrival of foreign tourists in the state, Bengal is at the 6th position in the country. In terms of domestic tourist footfall, the rank of the state is 7th.

According to the Tourism minister, as footfall of tourists is increasing in the Northern region of Bengal, the state government, under the leadership of Banerjee, convinced the AAI to start night landing in Bagdogra Airport.

To build the night landing infrastructure, the state government has already provided 26 acres of land. Deb said: "We have already given 26 acres of land. More 110 acres of land will be handed over to AAI by February for infrastructural development and expansion."

He also informed that the government wants more international flights to operate from Kolkata, as it would help the tourists as well as the tourism industry in the state.