Bihar finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav presenting the budget said Bihar in due course would have a network of 19 fully operational airports. These would include relatively larger airports at Darbhanga and Purnia, as well as the underconstruction greenfield airport at Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district. He also said that work had already begun to develop Darbhanga airport into a fully operational facility, for which land was being acquired for the construction of an extended runway and a civil enclave. In addition, a logistics park and a cargo hub would also be constructed near the Darbhanga airport, which, in turn, would boost air transportation of agricultural products from the Mithila region as well as north Bihar.
A sum of Rs 244 crore had been released for the acquisition of 89.75 acres of land, and Rs 5 crore had also been given to the Darbhanga district magistrate for acquiring additional land for the extended runway and civil enclave. For the construction of infrastructure for the civil enclave at the Purnia military airport, the govt has paid a revised amount of Rs 22 crore for the acquisition of an additional 15 acres of land.
