PM Modi inaugurates Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the new terminal of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport in Agartala. Addressing a gathering at a church in Mariamnagar in West Tripura on the occasion of Christmas, the CM told the media that Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiradiya Scindia, will be accompanying the Prime Minister. Tripura airport is the second-busiest airport in North East India, following Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati. The airport was set up as a military airstrip in 1942, the land for which was granted by the king of Tripura Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur. In July 2018, the airport was renamed after him. The new terminal is being constructed for Rs 500 crore as part of the Airport Authority of India’s initiative to build airports across the North East. It will be capable of managing four to five times more passengers than the current one, which has a capacity of only 500 travellers. With 19 flights working daily, the current terminal has become saturated. The new structure spread across 25,000 sq m contains six bays, one hangar, 10 immigration counters, a solar power unit capable of managing most power needs of the set-up, five custom counters, 20 check-in counters, apron for six aircraft parking bays, measures for link cabs, inline baggage system, and a self-sustainable sewage treatment facility. It will additionally sport miniature sculptures of Tripura’s 7th century’s mammoth, and bas relief sculptures of Unakoti and Tripurasundari temple among others. The airport will additionally feature India’s first full-body scanner. The terminal was scheduled to be made working before Durga Puja in 2020 but was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.