Chandigarh, April 3 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday criticised the central government for deliberately stopping international flights from the Amritsar airport.
Badal told media in Moga, 180 km from here, that the discontinuation of international flights from Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport and diverting them to Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi was nothing but a deliberate attempt of the union government to make the airport at the national capital a profitable venture.
He said that the Amritsar international airport had tremendous revenue potential as the Sikh holy city was a tourist hub.
Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, is the holiest of Sikh shrines in the world, and a major tourist attraction.
He said that the Amritsar international airport was incurring heavy losses due to financial non-viability as international flights to Toronto had been discontinued.
"This has happened due to the bad intention of the central government to extend profit to the Delhi airport. It is the height of step-motherly treatment with Punjab," Badal said.
He said the air link between Amritsar and state capital Chandigarh also has been discontinued.
"The sole aim behind all such gimmicks is to give a severe blow to the economy of Punjab. This is not at all acceptable at any cost," he added.
Till three years back, Amritsar airport had several international flights linking Punjab with Toronto, Birmingham, central Asian countries, Singapore and Austria.
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