Chandigarh, Aug 6 : Saying Bathinda is a strategic hub connecting eight districts across three states, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Tuesday sought to upgrade the city's airport to introduce international flights to Canada.





In a missive to Union Minister for Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu, she called for introducing a daily Delhi-Bathinda Alliance flight utilising Boeing aircraft and flights under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN. She also urged for the introduction of flights linking the two holy Takhts of Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded and Sri Patna Sahib.



Explaining the importance of Bathinda, Harsirmat Badal said the city was positioned as a strategic hub spanning from Sirsa in Haryana to Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan encompassing Sangrur, Mansa, Ferozepur and Faridkot districts in Punjab.



She said Bathinda's importance even extended beyond geographical boundaries as it encompassed Asia's largest Indian Army cantonment, an Air Force station, a Central University, a major oil refinery, three thermal plants and the revered Takht of the Sikhs -- Sri Damdama Sahib.



She said since there was no airport within a 300-km radius, the city's airport presented a fit case for upgradation to an international airport.



'Since there are a large number of students from the eight districts, including those in the adjacent states, who were studying in Canada, flights to Canada could be started from Bathinda,' she said



She said this would also facilitate NRIs as well as families who were travelling to and fro between the two destinations and had to presently land in Delhi and then travel by road to their destinations in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.



She said similarly starting a daily Delhi-Bathinda Alliance air flight would result in the region's economic and social development. She said while a Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi flight had been flagged off in 2016 and operated five times a week with an impressive 80 per cent occupancy, it was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.



She said in September 2023 a Bathinda-Hindon-Bathinda flight had been initiated utilising ATR aircraft, this should be replaced with a Delhi-Bathinda Alliance flight.



She said linking the two Takhts of Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded, and Sri Patna Sahib would facilitate Sikh pilgrims and called for acceding to this long-pending demand of the Sikh community.



/IANS