Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the first phase of the Mopa greenfield international airport in Goa even as he targeted previous governments for adopting a "vote bank approach" instead of creating public amenities.
He said the new airport would be named the Manohar International Airport after former Goa chief minister (late) Manohar Parrikar, a BJP stalwart.
"The airport will be named after my former colleague and ex-chief minister Manohar Parrikar," Modi said. Parrikar was a senior leader of the BJP from Goa who had also served as Defence Minister.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion, the prime minister said the airport infrastructure doubled due to the outlook of his government, making air travel affordable for the middle class. "The previous governments had a vote bank approach for decades instead of finding what people needed in terms of creating public amenities.
"Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had planned this airport for Goa. After him, the following government hardly did anything for this airport. Post-2014, Goa got the double engine of development and we did all the things at an increased pace," he said.
Modi said air travel was considered a luxury before 2014 (the year he became the prime minister) as only rich people could afford to fly.
"There was no investment made in the aviation sector failing to tap its potential. The country had only 70 airports even 70 years after Independence till 2014," he said.
Modi said his government started expanding the network of airports and during the last 7-8 years, 72 airports were created. "A scheme like UDAN was introduced making travel affordable for the common people to fly. Until 2014, six crore passengers flew annually in India, whose number has gone up to 14 crore, of which one crore flew under UDAN scheme," the PM said.
Modi said despite legal battles and the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, "We could complete the construction of the airport and now opening it for the public".
He said India has become the world's third largest aviation market and added the Centre has worked on "Ease of Travel" for foreigners who want to visit India. "We know tourism increases the soft power of the country. At the same time, when a country's power increases, the world wants to know about the country. The world gets attracted towards it," he said.