Yet again Odisha is being neglected with respect to infrastructure development.

While there are news reports that Visakhapatnam airport will soon become an international airport, UPA Government is neglecting the just demands of making Bhubaneswar an international airport.

Bhubaneswar serves a much bigger population and it will be the only international airport in the state.

And as per data of the Union Government currently Bhubaneswar has 50 per cent more daily flights than Visakhapatnam.

Is this because Congress rules in Andhra Pradesh and is in the BJD in Odisha? , asked Professor Digambara Mishra, a leading NRO.

Hundreds of Non Resident Odias(NRO)s are sending e-mail to the Prime Minister asking him to think about even development across India and not just about states ruled by the Congress party.

All of them demand to designate the Bhubaneswar airport as an international airport and have Air India (Express) flights directly connecting Bhubaneswar to international destinations, starting with one or more south East Asian destinations such as Bangkok and Singapore.

They have also asked Dr.Man Mohan Singh to expedite the establishment and operationalization of a commercial airport in Jharsuguda which will cater to the industrial belt of Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Sundergarh-Rourkela of Odisha and the IB valley that encompasses Chhatisgarh and Odisha.

The Bhubaneswar airport caters to the capital area of Odisha and its nearby areas.

While the larger metropolitan area of Bhubaneswar has a population of 19 lakhs, a 200kms radius of around Bhubaneswar consists of 14 of the 21 parliamentary constituencies of Odisha (Berhampur, Aska, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Kandhamal) with a population of about 3 crores.

This area includes several large population centres as well as existing and emerging industrial hubs, pointed out Sandip Dasverma.

These centres and hubs are Berhampur to the south, Puri and Paradeep to the east, Angul-Talcher to the west, Kalinganagar, Dhamra and Balasore to the North.

The area also includes top tourist destinations such as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Chilika, as well as the Buddhist monuments of Odisha which are of special interest to East Asia.

Buddhism spread to East Asia and beyond when Emperor Ashoka became Dharmshoka on the bank of the Daya river on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

The area is also ripe for a logistic corridor with existing excellent Rail, Road, and Ports connectivity and with a national waterway under works.

Thus an international airport would also make it a multi-modal logistic hub, said Chitta Baral.

The Bhubaneswar airport has a runway of 9000 feet and it is being extended to 10,500 feet.

Currently, four airlines have regular flights linking Bhubaneswar, three of which have international operations.

They are Kingfisher, Jetlite (of Jet) and Air India.

The fourth airline connecting Bhubaneswar is Indigo which commenced operations in India on 4 August 2006 and would be eligible for international flights in 2011, said Professor Baral.

The average number of flights operating from Bhubaneswar is 50, which is more than with respect to airports in Calicut – 50, Nagpur – 48, Coimbatore – 42, Mangalore – 30, Patna – 27, Srinagar – 27, Amritsar – 27, Trichy – 21, Varanasi – 16, Port Blair – 15, Tirupati – 9, Gaya – 1 all of which have been designated as international or customs airports.

In addition, there have been recent reports that Visakhapatnam with an average of 33 flights will soon be an international airport, rued Dhirendra Kar.

With Bhubaneswar emerging as an IT, Knowledge/Education and Tourism hub, and Odisha among the leaders in terms of incoming investments it is imperative that the Bhubaneswar airport be made to an international airport urgently, urged he.

NROs have asked to shed the partisan attitude of neglecting the non-Congress ruled state of Odisha (in favour of Congress ruled states like Andhra Pradesh).