Agartala, Nov 10 (PTI) Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday requested Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to start direct flight service between Tripura and Bangladesh.
During a video conferencing with Scindia, the CM placed the demand for starting direct international flight service between Agartala-Dhaka and Agartala-Chittagong, helicopter service to different tourist spots in the state to boost tourism industry, building of a runway at Kailashahar and VAT reduction on domestic flights.
Later in a social media post, the chief minister said that the Union Civil Aviation Minister had assured full support to the Tripura Government for fulfilling the proposal.
In the video conference, the chief minister was accompanied by Chief Secretary Kumar Alok and other officials.
Tripura shares a 856 km long border with the neighbouring country.
Sources in the Airports Authority of India (AII) said the new terminal building at the Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala, with a capacity to handle 1,200 passengers per day, almost three times more than the existing facility, is expected to become operational very soon.
The new terminal building will have six bays, one hangar, 20 check-in counters, 5 custom counters and 10 immigration counters, inline baggage system and a solar power unit.
The new terminal would be decorated with miniature sculptures of the 11th century rock carvings of Unakoti, and the Tripureswari temple, one of the 51 “Shakti peeths” of the country, the sources said.
Construction work of the new terminal building was started in 2017.
The Agartala airport was built as a military airstrip by the British on the land donated by the then king of Tripura, Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur, which was renamed after him in July, 2018.