Built at a cost of ₹423 crore and spanning 51,595 square metres, Pune Airport's new terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year. However, the operations are yet to commence.
Santosh Dhoke, Director, Pune Airport, said they have received the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) approvals and that the operationalisation of the new terminal is held up because the demand for additional Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel required has not been met yet.
Dhoke added that they have requested 231 additional CISF personnel and once they get them, the operations at the new terminal will begin.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) from Pune, Murlidhar Mohol said he had a discussion regarding this with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mohol informed that he had a "detailed discussion regarding the operationalisation of the new terminal at Pune Airport" with Shah. He said the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was "positive about providing the additional CISF personnel needed for the terminal to start and bringing a huge relief to Punekars".
The new terminal has a passenger handling capacity of 9 million passengers per annum and a peak hour capacity of 3,000 passengers, a significant improvement over the existing terminal’s capacity of 7.7 million per annum and peak hour capacity of 2,400 passengers.
Recently, after assuming charge as MoS for Civil Aviation, the former Pune mayor underscored the critical role of the sector in fulfilling PM Modi's vision of a developed India by 2047.
"For the vision of PM Modi's 2047, the resolution he made for a developed India, I think this sector is very important. Civil aviation is a very important ministry. Under this, the country can make very important progress," Mohol said.
Reflecting on the progress made in the sector, Mohol highlighted the transformative changes witnessed over the past decade.
"It is a very good opportunity that I have got a chance to work on. If we look at the last 50 years, then not much was done in 40 years. But in the last 10 years, a lot has been done in the civil aviation sector. The countrymen are witnessing it. There are many challenges in the future, too and we have to work on them. We have to use the opportunity that we have got. We have to do good work in the future," he said.
(With ANI inputs)
