Pune airport new terminal building issue raised in RS today
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Chaturvedi said, my question is about why Pune airport’s new terminal building is not being inaugurated and made operational for passengers. And why it is waiting for the last five months despite the work having been completed
While Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) Rajya Sabha (RS) MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi, on Monday raised in the upper house the issue of the delayed inauguration of the Pune Airport new terminal building and asked why passengers were continuing to travel from the old terminal building when work on the new terminal building had been completed five months ago, union minister of state for civil aviation, gen (Dr) V K Singh (retd.), in his reply stated that work on the new terminal building had not yet been completed and that it was still going on.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Chaturvedi said, “My question is about why Pune airport’s new terminal building is not being inaugurated and made operational for passengers. And why it is waiting for the last five months despite the work having been completed.”
In response to her question, gen (Dr) Singh (retd.), said, “It is not the fact that the new terminal building is waiting to be inaugurated for the last five months. In fact, the work is still going on and still, the new terminal building work has not been completed.”
Chaturvedi also posted on her X social media account and said, “As per the Pune Airport authorities, the new terminal at Pune Airport is ready since the last five months. Today, when asked a specific question on why the inauguration has been pending, the minister informed the house that the terminal work is not yet complete. Who is lying and misleading?”
While Aditya Thackeray also raised the issue on social media and said, “The government refuses to inaugurate the new terminal building of the old Pune Airport which is fully ready since the past five months. On the other hand, to claim credit, it wants to inaugurate an unfinished coastal road in Mumbai.”
Work on the new integrated terminal building (NITB) at Pune Airport has already missed five to six deadlines given by the agencies. As the number of flight operations has been increasing over the past few months and new destinations are being connected to Pune, there is an urgent need to have a bigger terminal building.
The NITB has a total built-up area of 50,000 square metre, and the completed building will have 10 aerobridges and 72 check-in counters.
Three aerobridges will be connected to the old and new terminal buildings. The Pune Airport expansion project includes the construction of a new terminal building at a cost of ₹475 crore, a multilevel car parking for ₹120 crore, and a new cargo complex at a cost of about ₹300 crore. The construction of the new terminal building will be completed soon and it is towards the eastern side of the existing terminal building.
While passengers are furious over the poor facilities and mismanagement at the old terminal building, Vipul Alekar, a frequent flyer, said, “I often travel from Pune airport to Delhi for my work and since the past few months, there has been a heavy rush for the check-in process. The old terminal building has less capacity and many a time, the Digi Yatra service of online check-in does not work. Hence, our demand is that the new building start operating immediately.”
