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Minister of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday in an apparent swipe at Rahul Gandhi drew a parallel between Congress' 150-day long march and the air and rail connectivity of the northeast with the rest of the country, calling the latter as "real Bharat Jodo".
"Air and rail connectivity with the North Eastern (NE) region with all the states is the real 'Bharat Jodo," Scindia told ANI without naming Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. The remarks of the Minister came on the sidelines of the inauguration of air connectivity from Hollongi (Itanagar) airport in North East Region with metropolitan cities Mumbai and Kolkata. Bharat Jodo Yatra is a 150-day-long march launched by Rahul Gandhi. The yatra is currently in Madhya Pradesh. Itanagar airport, also known as Hollongi airport and officially named as Donyi Polo Airport, is a greenfield airport that serves Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. Civil Aviation Minister Scindia on Monday flagged off flight operations of IndiGo from New Delhi, which connects Itanagar to Mumbai via Kolkata. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated Donyi Polo Airport in Arunachal Pradesh and today is the historic day that we are inaugurating flight services from two metro cities to Itanagar," Scindia said. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the naming of Greenfield Airport at Hollongi in Itanagar as Donyi Polo Airport in the first week of November this year. The airport authority of India has developed a greenfield airport in Itanagar with the help of the Centre and the state government with expenses of around Rs 646 crore. The Aviation Minister took a jibe at the previous UPA government saying, "Why more airports were not built before 2013-14.... After 2013-14, now there were only 9 airports in the North-East, at present in eight years there are 16 airports in the Northeast." Air connectivity with all the states in the country is a mission and will continue till all the airfield in the country is connected with flight operations. At the event here, Aviation Minister Scindia, MoCA secretary Rajiv Bansal, Union Cabinet Minister Korean Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh Deputy CM Chowna Mein with IndiGo's Principal Adviser RK Singh attended. (ANI)
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