Mehbooba urges Centre to start international flights from Srinagar

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti today called on Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma in Delhi and sought his intervention in starting international flights from the Srinagar Airport.

She urged Sharma to install guiding lights on the runway to facilitate flight operations at the Srinagar Airport during poor visibility.

“According to the Airports Authority of India, the instrument landing system is already in place at the airport. The flights are not able to operate due to non-availability of guiding lights on the runway,” Mehbooba said.

The PDP president said to begin with, international flights should be operated on the Srinagar-Amritsar-Dubai, Srinagar-Chandigarh-Dubai and Srinagar-Delhi-Jeddah sectors.

“There is also a pressing need to start daily flights on the Srinagar-Leh-New Delhi sector and morning and evening flights on the Srinagar-Jammu sector,” she said.

Mehbooba called for putting a slab on the airfares on the Srinagar-Jammu, Srinagar-Delhi and Srinagar-Leh sectors as the skyrocketing airfares. She sought the Union Minister’s intervention for return of J&K’s rare Gilgit manuscript and artefacts, including those from Burzhama, Semthan and Guphkraal, lying in various museums outside the state. The Union Tourism Minister promised Mehbooba that the issues raised by her would be looked into on priority.