Shimla: Faced with resource crunch and a mounting debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday made a strong plea to 15th Finance Commission to sanction a grant of Rs 2000 cr for setting-up international standard airport at Nagchala in district Mandi.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who was in Delhi, met N K Singh, Chairman of the Commission and informed him about state government's ambitious plan to set-up an airport in Mandi, which was required, both for the promotion of tourism and also to meet strategic needs.
He informed that state government doesn't have resources to spent such a heavy amount, thus, it's highly imperative upon the Commission to recommend such a funding to the state as special grant for upgradation of airport connectivity.
Thakur informed that Airport Authority of India has completed technical survey related to obstacle limitation surfaces and discussions were going on for construction of airport for operation of wide bodied aircrafts.
The Chief Minister said the state was vulnerable to natural disasters like flash floods, cloudbursts, forest fires, droughts, cold waves and avalanches etc. and therefore there was a need for enhancing the size of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). He requested that SDRF be funded 100 percent by the Central government.