Chandigarh, Aug 30 — Member of Parliament Manish Tewari on Friday called for the immediate reopening of the old terminal of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh International Airport, saying it would ease travel for passengers from Chandigarh and Panchkula who face access difficulties at the current facility.
Tewari, who also chairs the Chandigarh International Airport Advisory Committee, raised the demand while presiding over the panel’s meeting. “It was unanimously resolved to communicate to the civil aviation ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) the demand to designate the Chandigarh International Airport as a Point of Call,” he noted.
A Point of Call (PoC) allows foreign airlines to operate flights under India’s Air Services Agreements. Despite operating for nearly a decade, the airport has not been included in the bilateral offer list, preventing foreign carriers from starting direct services. The airport, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2015, was granted international status but, according to Tewari, “failed to expand its presence on foreign routes.”
He also reminded the committee that the reopening of the old terminal was earlier flagged by the Chandigarh chief secretary at a civil aviation ministry conference in May-June this year.
Alongside Sri Anandpur Sahib MP Malwinder Singh Kang, co-chairman of the advisory panel, Tewari directed that a joint meeting be convened with deputy commissioners, SSPs, and municipal commissioners of Chandigarh and Mohali to tackle flight safety hazards. Issues cited included garbage dumping and encroachments near the airport boundary that increase bird activity and pose risks to aircraft.
The committee agreed that representatives from the Indian Air Force and Chandigarh International Airport Limited should participate in the discussions. It also took up the matter of increasing the frequency of domestic flights from Chandigarh to other destinations.
Those attending Friday’s meeting included airport CEO Ajay Verma, advisory members HS Lucky, Chandermukhi Sharma, Ravinder Pal Pali, Pawan Dewan, Gurmail Singh Pahalwan, Bhuvnish Kumar (CASO), Manjit Ghumman, and Karan Gilhotra, besides Chandigarh DC Nishant Yadav, SSP Kanwardeep Kaur, and Mohali SP Ramandeep Singh.
