A high-level meeting was held on Thursday at the Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha regarding the launch of International flight services on the Agartala-Chittagong route.
Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, Chief Secretary JK Sinha, Director General of State Police Amitabh Ranjan, and others were present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister reviewed the steps taken by the State Government in view of starting International flight services on the Agartala-Chittagong route. The Chief Minister said in the meeting that the state government has taken the initiative to declare the Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport (MBB) as an International Airport. Maximum efforts will be taken to implement this initiative of the State Government. The State Cabinet has approved the start of International flight services on the Agartala-Chittagong route.
Chief Minister also directed the DGP to take necessary steps to appoint 17 security personnel at the Bureau of Immigration at MBB Airport at the request of the Union Home Ministry.
Besides, the Chief Minister directed the Secretary of the Defense and Transport Department to take necessary measures as per the instructions of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Home Affairs. He also directed the officials of the concerned departments to quickly complete all the processes for launching international flight services on the Agartala-Chittagong route.
In the meeting, Chief Secretary JK Sinha said that the Transport Department has taken all efforts to start the Agartala-Chittagong International flight service. The State Government has also requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to declare Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport as an International Airport and start International flight services from Agartala to Chittagong.
The Ministry of Home Affairs was also requested to take the necessary steps to declare Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport as an Immigration check post.
CS Sinha informed in the meeting that the issue of setting up an immigration check post at MBB airport is currently under consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs.