After a long delay of about five years, first airport of Sikkim is all ready to deliver its services in the state by the end of November. As per the sources 30 November is the date set for the inauguration of the first airport of Sikkim. The request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sent to be present at the Inauguration ceremony.
First Airport of Sikkim
The airport is spread over 990 acres in Pakyong village. Pakyong airport of Sikkim is over 30km from Gangtok and has been prepared at a cost of around Rs300 crore. The airport features in the list of top five highest airports in the country at 4,700 feet. The airport of Sikkim is also the first greenfield airstrip to be constructed in the Northeast.
The airport had got approval from Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs back in 2008 and was expected to be completed in 2012 but the completion got delayed due to various reasons such as opposition from locals on the issue of compensation for their land, which then led to litigation.
Benefits of Sikkim Sirport:
The Sikkim Airport will be a great help in boosting tourism sector in the state as the tourists will now have one more option added to reach the beautiful part of the country. The connectivity will also be improved in the state with a non-existent rail network.
The airport will be very helpful for people from Himalayan state in terms of fast connectivity. Right now Himalayan state people have to got to 124 Km away from Sikkim to Bagdogra in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal to take a flight. The roads in Sikkim often gets blocked with high traffic. So in this case this step was much needed in the state to boost the connectivity.
