Patel lays foundation of greenfield airport in Sikkim

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The frisking of former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by Continental Airlines staff at the airport here will be probed and apologies would be asked for if "anybody is found wrong", Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Tuesday.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Five greenfield airports would come up in Karnataka and Sikkim in the next two years, said Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Thursday. In reply to a question by Congress parliamentarian Naveen Jindal, the minister told the Lok Sabha that four new airports would come up at Shimoga, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Hassan in Karnataka, and another at Pakyong in Sikkim.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The new aviation regulator, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), will settle all contentious issues in the aviation sector, including the airport development fee issue, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Thursday. Replying to questions in parliament, Patel said: "AERA has been constituted by an act of parliament and has started functioning.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Air traffic congestion at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here will end once the new terminal T3 becomes operational by April 2010, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Thursday. "I do concede there there is a problem.

May 16th, 2009 GANGTOK - Counting of votes cast for elections to the 32 assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat of Sikkim began Saturday morning, poll officials said. Counting began at 8 a.m.

April 25th, 2009 GANGTOK - With an aim to give a fillip to the pilgrimage tourism in Sikkim, a Buddhist hub, the royal Bhutan Airlines has started a service between Bhutan and West Bengal has decided to link Sikkim, benefiting the Buddhist Circuit area. Lukendra Rasaily, General Secretary, Travel Agents Association Of Sikkim (TAAS), said that with the promotion of the Buddhist Circuit a lot more tourists would visit Sikkim.

April 4th, 2009 GANGTOK - Bhutan's flagship carrier Druk Air will launch a new flight April 18 connecting Bagdogra in West Bengal with Paro in Bhutan and Thai capital Bangkok, it was announced here Saturday. An Airbus A-319 aircraft will fly the Paro-Bagdogra-Bangkok route twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Druk Air chief executive Tandin Jamso told reporters here.

March 24th, 2009 GANGTOK - Keen to improve tourist inflow into the State, the Sikkim Government recently launched a casino. With an annual increase of 20 per cent in tourist inflow in recent years, Sikkim is the only state in the country offering land based live casino facilities and complete casino gaming to tourists.

February 28th, 2009 SURAT - Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Friday laid the foundation of a new terminal at Surat airport, the eighth such terminal project in the country since Feb 20. The new domestic terminal, a glass and steel structure, will have a floor area of 8,474 square metres and offer modern passenger friendly facilities like central heating and air conditioning system, Patel said.

February 27th, 2009 VADODARA - Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Thursday laid the foundation of a new terminal here, the seventh since Feb 20, after inaugurating the departure terminal at the Delhi airport earlier in the day. After Vadodara airport, the minister will lay the foundation stone of the terminal building at Surat airport Friday, officials of the Airports Authority of India said.

February 22nd, 2009 PANAJI - The number of airports in India will go up from the present 85 to about 400 in the next 10 years, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Saturday. It was a busy day for Patel, who visited three cities to inaugurate two new air terminals and lay the foundation stone of a third.

February 21st, 2009 RAIPUR - The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will invest Rs.1.36 billion for construction of a new integrated terminal at the Raipur airport, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here Friday. 'The AAI will be investing Rs.136 crore (Rs.1.36 billion) for a new integrated terminal at Raipur airport to make it an international-standard airport,' Patel said here at a function to lay the foundation stone for the new terminal building.

February 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday denied media reports that it had reached an electoral alliance with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Sikkim. The CPI-M said in a statement here that a party member, who attended a meeting where it was announced that the three parties were joining hands, does 'not represent the views of the Sikkim committee of the party'.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Engineering and construction major Punj Lloyd has secured a Rs.2.64-billion contract from Airports Authority of India to construct a new airport in Sikkim, the company announced Tuesday. The project -- at Pakyong in East Sikkim and expected to be completed in 24 months -- includes the construction of a 30 metre wide runway of 1.7-km length, taxiway, apron drainage system and electrical work on the airport.

December 28th, 2008 KOLKATA - Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Monday set the ball rolling for a Rs.16-billion modernisation of the international airport here, which will include a new terminal, modern taxiways and extension of a runway so that it can handle the giant Airbus A-380 aircraft. The modernisation project, the foundation stone for which was laid by West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is targeted for completion by May 2011.