This story is from December 24, 2014

UP now plans an airport between Sikri, Bharatpur

After the defence ministry refused to give a no-objection certificate for the proposed international airport at Etmadpur near Agra, the UP government has now zeroed in on a new site for the ambitious project somewhere between Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur situated on the UP-Rajasthan border
UP now plans an airport between Sikri, Bharatpur
LUCKNOW: After the defence ministry refused to give a no-objection certificate for the proposed international airport at Etmadpur near Agra, the UP government has now zeroed in on a new site for the ambitious project somewhere between Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur situated on the UP-Rajasthan border.
A team of officials from the state civil aviation department is soon likely to conduct the survey of the site, about 40 km from Agra.
Sources said that a high powered committee headed by UP chief secretary is expected to take a decision once the site is surveyed and report submitted.
The Agra international airport proposed earlier by the SP government was to be taken up by the industry department. However, in November, the defence ministry refused to issue a no-objection certificate to the said project. “The chief minister has written letters to the ministry. It is now up to them to allow us to come up with the project,'' said principal secretary, industry, Sanjiv Saran.
Interestingly, minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma, who is also Noida MP, has also mooted a proposal to set up an airport at Jewar in Greater Noida. The proposal for an airport in Greater Noida was first put forth by the Rajnath Singh government in 2001.
The BSP government also pitched for it, but the SP government scrapped the project. It was feared that the project might get vetoed by Delhi's IGI airport as it was falling within a radius of 150 km, conflicting the business and rendering the airport unviable
The state civil aviation department sources said that the state government was considering two more sites -- Mathura and the stretch between Agra and Etawah, before it gave its nod to this site. A senior official privy to the development said that Mathura was almost ruled out because of the refinery. Likewise, the stretch between Agra and Etawah is under defence ministry. That left the state government to go beyond Fatehpur Sikri on the Rajasthan border.
Significantly, the civil aviation department has already entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Airport Authority of India for developing a civil conclave at the existing airport in Agra which is owned by the Indian Air Force. Sources said that around 60 acres of land would be acquired by the Agra district administration for the proposed civil conclave.
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