Ayodhya airport may be a reality before Ram temple inauguration in January.

The sleepy town of Ayodhya is likely to get its first international airport before the inauguration of Ram temple in January next year.

The Maryada Purushottam Shriram International Airport will witness the completion of its first phase, costing nearly Rs. 400 crore, by October 2023. Commercial flights will start in November or early December 2023, according to sources.

Spread across 821-acre, the airport will connect the temple town in the initial stages with about four cities -- including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Later, more flights and destinations will be added, thus paving the way for the temple town to be transformed into a tourism hotspot in the subcontinent.

Ayodhya, the mythological birthplace of Hindu deity Ram, is a holy place and has immense potential to boost religious tourism.

The airport is equipped to handle commercial flights in different weather conditions and the construction of the 2,200-metre-long and 45-metre-wide runaway, as well as the air traffic control tower is complete.

Ayodhya airport general manager (projects) Rajeev Kulshrestha said all the necessary groundwork encompassing civil, electrical, IT would be completed by the next month.

“Thereafter, the requisite licensing and calibration procedures would be set in motion before the eventual launch of commercial flights,” he told Business Standard.

The frequency and the slots of flights to and from Ayodhya would be decided by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) headquarters in consultation with the civil aviation ministry, he said.

While the 400 acres required for the first phase has already been acquired, the remaining has been demarcated for acquisition to feed phase II and III of the project.

Ayodhya, currently, has a small airstrip to handle non-commercial and chartered flights. However, despite the absence of an airport, it witnessed an upsurge in tourists after the construction of the temple started in August 2020.

The number of backpackers in Ayodhya breached the level of 20 million in the first six months of 2022.

Recently, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) national executive meeting in Lucknow, claimed once the temple was opened for devotees, the tourist-flow to the town could hit an annual mark of 100 million.

At the UP Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2023, Japan-based Hotel Management International Company Limited (HMI Group) had signed an MoU to invest Rs. 7,200 crore to the launch of hotels in prominent tourist hotspots such as Agra, Ayodhya, and Varanasi.

Meanwhile a string of marquee hotels, including both luxury and budget categories viz. Taj Group, Radisson, ITC, Oyo et al have made a beeline for projects in Ayodhya.

“More than 25 hoteliers have already registered with our portals. In the coming months, we expect nearly two dozen more companies to follow suit,” UP tourism and culture, principal secretary Mukesh Meshram had earlier said.

Currently, there are about 18 quality hotels in Ayodhya with a combined inventory of 600 rooms, the demand of which is expected to witness a sharp jump once the temple is inaugurated.

Interestingly, the planned transformation of Ayodhya is estimated to cost Rs. 30,000 crore to the exchequer under ‘Ayodhya Vision 2047’ theme. These funds are targeted to be invested in about 260 projects pertaining to tourism, aviation, infrastructure, housing, medical, energy, culture, urban development, and transport.

The expenditure will be incurred jointly by the central and state governments. These projects include the Smart City Mission, widening of roads, modern bus terminals, unclogging the overhead electricity supply cables, beautification of ghats, cultural centres etc.

The sum, however, does not comprise the cost of Ram temple. The project has been undertaken by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, with the requisite funds being raised through private donations and crowd-funding.

Last year the general secretary of the Trust, and senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Champat Rai had said, the temple will cost Rs. 1,800 crore based on the latest revised estimate.

BS