Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the newly constructed Malkangiri Airport on Tuesday.
The new airport is situated at Katelguda under Goudaguda panchayat on the outskirts of Malkangiri town and became the seventh one in the state. The airport’s runway is 1620 meter in length and 30 meter in width.
Speaking about the newly-opened airport, the CM said, “Air connectivity to Malkangiri will usher in a new era of development, open up avenues of business & tourism and further transform the lives of people in the region.”
Malkangiri is an undeveloped district in the state of Odisha and the state government is making continuous efforts to develop it. Most of the people oriented schemes of the state government have been started from Malkangari.
Among the several schemes launched from the district, one of them was the Rice at Re 1 scheme which was launched in February 2013. In another, Gurpriya Setu was built in July 2018, which opened the way to 115 inaccessible villages.
Similarly, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana-BSKY was also implemented from Malkangari by the Chief Minister. The district also extended Health Insurance for women under BSKY scheme on the request of a woman.
The Lakshmi Bus Scheme was also started from Malkangari in October 2023.
Following the the start of air service at Malkangari, the infrastructure and transport system of the district will be strengthened and the development process of the district will be accelerated. In case of Naxal suppression, it will be easier for security forces to reach Cuttack-Bhubaneswar for emergency medical services and emergency communication. Ministers and government officials will be able to reach Malkangiri in less time from the state capital to carry out administrative work.
In the first phase, nine-seater aircrafts are likely to operate from the airport while larger aircrafts will provide services later.
The airport has been constructed on 233 acres of land at an expenditure of around Rs 70 crore.
Necessary technical assistance for operationalization of Malkangiri Airport have been provided by the authorities of the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar.
The functioning of the airport is expected to bring rapid economic development in the region.
This is the second significant connectivity project in the district after the Gurupriya bridge, which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister in 2018. The bridge has been providing road connectivity between the cut-off areas of the district (Swabhimana Anchala) and mainland.
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