The Bihar government has asked the Centre to accelerate the construction work of a civil enclave at the Bihta airport, a defence aerodrome, which is to be built as an alternative to the Patna airport for commercial operations. On Friday, Bihar’s chief secretary Amir Subhani wrote to the Union civil aviation secretary regarding this reminding him that the state government had transferred 108 acres of land at Bihta to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on December 6, 2018. Yet, the government is to initiate work on the civil enclave at Bihta. The state’s reply comes as a veiled rebuttal to Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia, who said in Parliament on February 10 that the Bihar government requires to identify an alternate site for the development of a greenfield airport in case of non-availability of essential land at Bihta air base. Scindia had requested different states to render additional land for the development of greenfield airports. State officials told the media that despite the transfer of land in 2018 and the development of a boundary wall, not much had been attained at the Bihta airport. The Public Investment Board (PIB) is yet to accord permission to the Rs 900-crore Bihta airport project. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), during the intervening period, had asked for additional land twice from the state government for the Bihta airport. It first asked for an additional 191 acres for extension of the existing runway from 8,400 feet to 12,000 feet. This, the government said, would boost the operation of wide-bodied aircraft without any passenger load restriction. Later, it sought another 8 acres for the development of the apron to augment operational needs for wide-bodied aircraft. The state government, yet, has not replied favourably to the Centre’s proposal so far. MoCA authorities told the media that the PIB approval to the Bihta airport project was pending because the state government is yet to clear its stand on the Centre’s request for additional land for operational needs. Image Source Also read: AAI targets capital outlay of Rs 91k cr in airport sector