india

Updated: Aug 07, 2019 19:14 IST

The Tripura government has sent a proposal to the Centre to request Bangladesh for a piece of land to expand Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) airport, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

“I have sent a proposal to the Centre to request the Bangladesh government to provide a piece of land, say less than 1 kilometre inside the border area to expand a runway of the MBB airport. The airport is close to the border. Since people from Bangladesh travel to other states via Agartala, they may also benefit from this move,” Biplab Deb told reporters at the BJP headquarters on Tuesday evening.

“If this happens, both India and Bangladesh would benefit. This will also enhance the friendship between the two countries,” he added.

After coming to power for the first time in the northeastern state, the BJP-IPFT government renamed the Agartala airport after the state’s last ruler Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Deb Burman.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken up a Rs. 438 crore project to upgrade the airport to an international standard. Being the second busiest airport in the northeast, the MBB airport handles approximately 9 lakh passengers every year.

Besides the airport, three other projects to connect Tripura with Bangladesh, including the Agartala-Akhaura railway project, inland waterways connectivity through Gomati River and Howrah river of the state with Bangladesh’s Meghna River and Feni Bridge of Sabroom are due to be launched .