The Jagdalpur airport in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June this year, is reportedly non-operational even five months later.
India Today reported that when their team reached the airport on November 10, the ticket counters were completely shut. They also found out that there is only one flight from the airport, which runs with a delay of several hours.
The airport was part of the Narendra Modi-led government’s plan to woo voters in the Naxal insurgency-hit region, ahead of the 2018 assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Prime Minister had said at the time of the inauguration, “Today, flight service was started between Jagdalpur and Raipur. Now the distance between these two cities has come down to 40 minutes from 6 to 7 hours,” adding that it was “the result of the government’s schemes that now more people are travelling in planes than in AC coaches of trains.”
A local journalist told CNN-News18, “Bad connectivity between Jagdalpur and Raipur has been the bane of Bastar. We had a lot of hope from this airport but it turned out to be a stunt ahead of polls which has gone horribly wrong.”
He added, “Air lifting facilities are only available for injured paramilitary personnel. The district hospital in Jagdalpur is not even equipped to handle cough and cold, forget emergencies. I could do nothing to help my wife, imagine what tribals from interiors of Bastar must be suffering.”
Another person told India Today, “PM and Amit Shah only sell dreams to woo voters around elections, reality on ground zero is heartbreaking.”