Central team visits Raja Bhoj Airport

The ‘international’ tag on Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal, which remains only on paper till now would soon become a reality as on Monday, a joint team of the Union Home Ministry and Union Civil Aviation Ministry, comprising two members visited Bhopal airport to assess the existing manpower and also the required manpower for carrying out immigration functions easily needed to upgrade it as international airport. The Bhopal airport Director, Anil Vikram said, “Under Secretary, Shamim Ahmed, and Under Secretary, Ministry of Commerce Affairs, Narendra Singh, came for the inspection of Bhopal airport on Monday morning to declare it as an immigration check-post and they will submit their report to Union Ministry. H K Pathak, co-ordinated with the team.

Officials from Madhya Pradesh Government, including police officials, were present.” He added that the Customs Department had already inspected the space available for the international portion at the airport terminal building. “However, they are yet to submit their report. They wish to visit Indore airport to have a view of the customs setup there before submitting the report.

As per information, they may visit Indore airport on November 5,” Vikram added. He added that the Bhopal airport is completely prepared and equipped for handling international flight operations. Notably, eight years after Bhopal got its state of the art airport terminal, now it’s on the way to be upgraded to an international airport, the second in Madhya Pradesh after Indore. In September this year, the DGCA had started the process for granting international status to Raja Bhoj Airport.