Those in power should have a good long-term vision and use taxpayers' money properly. Wastage is not allowed. But poor longterm vision and understanding can cause a great dent in federal budget without helping people. Such administrators become more of a liability for the nation rather than being of any use for it.
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| Non-operational Azamgarh airport |
This happened in India after 2014. Improper decisions and planning have led to use of people's money for construction of new airports in remote places. But significant number of these airports are now non-functional due to poor traffic. There actually was no need of these airports at these places. If no demand, why thrust it on people? Why not focus on use of money at right places? This needs a good visionary who uses money at right places in right amounts. It needs a person who is not power hungry and greedy but is conscientious and has compassion and empathy for its citizens. It needs a person who feels bad even when one citizen dies due to its mistake and does heart talk and not lip service.
About the recent but defunct airports, C.K. Govil, former president of The Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) says:
"The biggest issue is whether a proper study of the catchment area was done before making these airports operational,”
Vandana Singh, chairperson of the Aviation Cargo Federation of Aviation Industry in India (FAII) adds:
"Many of these airports don’t have adequate terminals or runways… Basic facilities like night navigation systems are missing. Then there’s the issue of low passenger footfall, which makes operations economically unviable for airlines,”
So there was an airport built without the need and then incompletely done with likely safety issues and yet it was hurriedly inaugurated. No pre-assessment done about commercial viability. This is not how sane governments should run.
Though BJP government claimed that the number of airports have doubled since 2014, the truth is that many of them have become non-operational soon after ribbon cut. 37 airports started construction, 24 have completed it and 10 more are proposed.
However, 52% of proposed routes never really were started. Out of 24, 9 airports are already non-operational. This does not speak good of a government which makes such tall claims.
Out of 24 that opened, the list of Greenfield airports that went non-operational is here:
1. Azamgarh airport in Uttar Pradesh- built at cost of 108 crores, ribbon cut March 2024, started operation in July 2024, suspended operations in November 2024.
2. Aligarh airport in Uttar Pradesh - built at cost of 768 crores, ribbon cut March 2024, started operation in July 2024, closed November 2024
3. Moradabad airport in Uttar Pradesh - built at cost of 29.93 crores , ribbon cut August 2024, operational August 2024, closed November 2024
4. Shravasti airport in Uttar Pradesh - built at cost of 29 crore, ribbon cut March 2024, operational July 2024, suspended operations in December 2024
5. Chitrakoot airport in Uttar Pradesh - built at cost of 146 crore, ribbon cut 2024, operational July 2024, closed December 2024
6. Kushinagar airport in Uttar Pradesh - built at cost of 450 crore, ribbon cut October 2021, operation started November 2021, and stopped flights in November 2023
7. Pakyong in Sikkim -built with cost of 605.59 crore, ribbon cut September 2018, operational October 2018, non-operational June 2024
8. Rourkela in Odisha - upgraded with 70 crore, ribbon cut January 2023, first flight January 2023, stopped operation currently temporarily stopped as of August 2026
9. Shivamogga airport in Karnataka - built with cost of 600 crore, ribbon cut February 2023, operational August 2023, non-operational June 2026
One needs to learn from one's mistakes. But no. Yet this wastage of money continues. New airports planned include Chandrapur airport in Maharashtra, Chaukutia airport in uttarakhand, Mandi airport in HP, Nizamabad airport in Andhra Pradesh, Kishtwar airport in J and K, Kohima Chiethu airport in Nagaland, Kothagudem airport in Andhra Pradesh, Rajpipla airport in Gujrat, Ramagundam airport in Andhra Pradesh, and Dhamra airport in Odisha.
Some of the airports opened only in mid 2026; a month or two before. Hence, it is too early to predict it's commercial viability. It would be a wait to know whether it would go a natural death or survive. Also what about the ongoing and proposed airports?
Land routes paint a similar grim picture. For instance, in Khatima there was a small bus stand. Instead of improving it, the BJP government made a new bus stand about 4 to 5 kms away from the residential area. The result is no one goes there to board buses. They continue to use the old bus stand because it is nearer to their place of residence. The ill-planning and poor vision of government is again evident here. The stakeholders continue to be not consulted in the planning stage leading to wastage of taxpayers money with no benefit to people. Who is responsible?
There was a talk about a bus having started to connect Janakpur in Nepal to Ayodhya in India! Check it out!
All this is like the story of the Austrian queen Maria-Antoinette who had remarked on the poverty and starvation of her countrymen by saying:
"They have no bread, let them eat cake."
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