PM to lay foundation stone for the extension of terminal building at Surat airport

During the visit, the Prime Minister will lay the Foundation Stone for the extension of Terminal building at Surat Airport. The Terminal building is being constructed at a cost of Rs.354 Crore with an area of over 25,500 square metres. It will be an eco-friendly sustainable building, using solar energy and LED lighting. Once completed, it will have a peak handling capacity of over 1800 passengers. Surat airport is the third busiest airport in Gujarat after Ahmedabad and Vadodara in terms of both aircraft movements and passenger traffic.

Expansion of infrastructure for development has been one of the priorities of the Government. Several initiatives have been undertaken in various sectors and aviation sector is among them. In Gujarat, civil aviation infrastructure has not only been strengthened but also air connectivity has been enhanced. These include connecting Kandla to Mumbai and Porbandar to Ahmedabad and Mumbai through UDAN scheme. Development of Greenfield airport at Hirasar, Rajkot, new ATC tower/technical block at Ahmedabad and Vadodara etc. are among them.

In Surat, the PM will interact with the youth at the New India Youth conclave. He will also inaugurate Smt. RasilabenSevantilal Shah Venus Hospital and visit the facilities there.

PM’s next destination will be Dandi in Navsari district of Gujarat. Here, he  will dedicate the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial to the nation, on Bapu’s death anniversary. The memorial has statues of Mahatma Gandhi and 80 Satyagrahis who had marched with him during the historic Dandi Salt March. The memorial also has 24-narrative murals depicting various events and stories from the historic 1930 Salt March. The PM will walk through the memorial and address a public meeting.

The Salt Satyagraha March,well known as the Dandi March of 1930 has been a landmark event in the history of India’s freedom struggle. It was on this day , as a part of the Civil Disobedience Movement against the British rule, 80 Satyagrahis led by Mahatma Gandhi marched 241-miles from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi and made salt from sea water breaking the Salt Law imposed by the British.

It will be the second visit of the Prime Minister to Gujarat this month. Prime Minister Modi earlier visited Surat on 19 January 2019, to dedicate the Armoured System Complex at Hazira. He attended the Vibrant Gujarat summit on January 17 and 18, 2019, at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.