New Delhi, December 1
Member of Parliament from Punjab Rajinder Gupta today raised a significant matter of public importance in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour, drawing national attention to the long-pending operationalisation of the Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Kartar Singh Sarabha Airport at Halwara, Ludhiana. Speaking on the matter, he highlighted the airport’s critical role in unlocking economic growth for Punjab’s industrial heartland and the broader Malwa region.
Highlighting Ludhiana’s economic stature, he noted that the city contributes over Rs 72,000 crore to India’s industrial output and houses more than 1.5 lakh MSMEs – one of the highest concentrations in the country. Despite this enormous economic footprint, the region continues to remain without a functional commercial airport, placing it at a competitive disadvantage compared with rapidly growing hubs such as Jaipur, Indore, Surat, Rajkot, and Coimbatore.
The MP emphasised that Punjab, home to nearly 22-25 lakh NRIs, faces an urgent need for improved air connectivity for families, students, business travellers, and medical emergencies. He stated that the new airport has the capacity to handle more than 2,500 passengers per day and operate 10-12 flights daily from the very first day, connecting Ludhiana directly to major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.
Gupta stressed that operationalising the Halwara airport would significantly reduce travel time and costs for MSME owners, decongest Delhi and Chandigarh airports, cut fuel expenditure, reduce carbon emissions, and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs across aviation, logistics, warehousing, hospitality, and retail. He referred to airports as “economic multipliers” and reiterated that districts with airports record GDP growth up to three times faster than those without such connectivity.
Gupta, a recipent of Padma Shri, also aligned the demand with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, acknowledging the Government of India’s push for expanding regional air connectivity under the UDAN scheme, and the unique civil–military synergy possible at Halwara, one of the country’s largest Air Force stations.
