The Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a motion that called for the intervention of the Narendra Modi government to ensure that international and domestic airlines operate direct flights to different cities of the USA and European countries from Calcutta.
This was the second time — after a unanimous adoption of a resolution against the “partition of West Bengal” — that the Opposition supported the treasury bench’s motion unequivocally in the “interest of the state”.
Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who moved the motion on behalf of the government, spoke extensively about how the operation of direct international flights was essential for Bengal and the difficulties faced by fliers.
She also thanked the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, for supporting the resolution and agreeing to be part of a joint team to take up the issue with the civil aviation ministry, if required after the state government’s actions.
“I want to thank the leader of the Opposition for supporting the resolution brought by me in the House. I am happy that they (the BJP) have started understanding the requirements and beauty of the federal structure. It will be a great gift for us if direct international flights to Europe and the USA are launched in the centenary year of Calcutta airport, which became part of the civil aviation map in 1924,” said Bhattacharya.
A source said that chief minister Mamata Banerjee, during a preparatory meeting for the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), scheduled for February 5 and 6 next year, expressed concern about the lack of direct international flights to the US and European countries in front of several industrialists.
On the sidelines of the BGBS preparatory meeting, Mamata, while interacting with industry captains like Sanjiv Goenka (chairman of the RPSG Group), Harshavardhan Neotia (chairman of the Ambuja-Neotia Group), and Sanjiv Puri (chairman of ITC Hotels Limited), expressed concerns over the lack of direct international flights from Calcutta to major destinations in Europe and the US.
“She discussed the possible ways to begin the direct operation of international flights from the city,” the source said.
Although the motion was passed unanimously, the floor witnessed a debate between the Trinamool Congress and BJP MLAs.
Debasish Kumar, TMC’s Rashbehari MLA, accused the Narendra Modi government of not helping the state secure direct international flights, despite the higher number of passengers from the city compared to other cities like Chennai and Hyderabad.
“It is part of the deprivation politics by the Union government,” Kumar said, presenting a series of statistics on passengers travelling by international flights.
Adhikari claimed that the accusation against the Union government was illogical, as it had already included the Calcutta airport in the list of BASA (Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement) and the Open Sky Agreement.
“We supported the motion as it involves the interest of the people of Bengal. However, the central government has nothing to do with it, as it has already included Calcutta among the six metro cities of the country under the BASA and Open Sky Agreement. Now, the state government should conduct meetings with different domestic and international airlines to seek their operations,” said Adhikari.
Adhikari also said the government should engage with agencies like the Tatas, a significant player in civil aviation, reminding the Trinamool dispensation about the Singur episode, where the Tata Nano car factory was abandoned.
Adhikari said the operation of several new airports, including those at Balurghat, Malda, Kalaikunda and Hasimara, was pending because the state government failed to provide the required land for their construction.
BJP legislators claimed direct international flights could only operate based on the number of passengers and that number couldn’t increase in Bengal when hundreds of industries were moving away from the state.
“Until business returns to the state, the hope of getting flights back to the city is not possible,” said a BJP leader.