The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has given its approval for declaration of Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as an International Airport, stating it will offer improved connectivity to the important Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites. Kushinagar is located in the North-Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh about 50 km east of Gorakhpur. it is an important Buddhist site, where Gautama Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana after his death.
Kushinagar Airport is located in the vicinity of several Buddhist Cultural Sites like Sravasti, Kapilvastu, Lumbini, and declaration as an ‘International Airport’ will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of competitive costs to the air-travellers. It will result in boosting of domestic/international tourism and economic development of the regions.
While briefing the media after Cabinet Meeting Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “Kushinagar is the mid-point of the Buddhist circuit. It has pilgrimage sites in Lumbini, Shravasti, Kapilvastu nearby it. A little farther, it has sites in Sarnath and Gaya.”
“However, this international tourist destination has no direct connectivity, which has been a long pending demand of the visitors. A 3-km-long runway strip has already been made. Now, even a big aircraft of Airbus can land at the airport,” he added.
In a series of tweets, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath congratulated said that today is a very special day since the long awaited demand was fulfilled by the Union Cabinet. This would give a major boost to international tourism since Kushinagar is a centre place for world famous Buddhist pilgrimage sites. It will not only boost tourism in the state but also guarantee employment to a large number of people. Kushinagar airport will open new avenues for development of the eastern part.
The Chief Minister said that they will connect this airport to the south East Asian countries who are followers of Lord Buddha. The Kushinagar airport getting international status would also help in developing the Buddhist circuit which includes Kushinagar, Sarnath, Shravasti, Kapilavastu, Kaushmabhi, Sankisa, Lumbini and Bodhgaya and six of these spots are in Uttar Pradesh.
According to an official statement, the Central government said the Buddhist Circuit is a key pilgrimage destination for 530 million practicing Buddhists across the globe. Around 200-300 devotees from Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar, etc come to offer prayers at Kushinagar on any given day.
The Kushinagar airport project is spread across 590 acres of land and about 95 per cent of the work on the project has been completed with an amount of Rs. 190 crore.
