GREATER NOIDA: The Akhilesh Yadav government may finally be coming around to the idea of reviving the Jewar international airport project, which was planned in Mayawati’s regime but got the cold shoulder after the power shift in Lucknow.
A high-level panel will examine the Greater Noida project in Lucknow on February 16, sources said. Likely to be convened by the chief secretary, it will discuss the technical aspects of the project, for which over 2,000 acres of land have already been acquired. A preliminary meeting was held on Tuesday in Lucknow to set the agenda.
The chief minister himself indicated the government was no longer indifferent to the Jewar project at an event on Tuesday in Bulandhahr, saying that if the Centre takes a decision to establish an international airport in the state, he would extend his support.
Junior aviation minister Mahesh Sharma, who is also the Gautam Budh Nagar MP, is keen to revive the Jewar airport plan and identified it among his priorities before he took charge last year.
The SP regime has proposed to build the Taj International Airport in Firozabad district but sources said the CM’s mood appeared to have changed after the defence ministry refused a no-objection certificate for it.
The international airport in Greater Noida was first mooted in 2001 by then chief minister Rajnath Singh. However, it was during Mayawati’s regime as CM that the proposal was given preliminary clearance by the Centre. But in 2003, the project was shelved by CM Mulayam Singh.
In 2007, the BSP government once again revived it. But after coming to power in 2012, the Akhilesh-led government shelved the project.
