Siliguri: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has handed over 104 acres of land to the Bagdogra Airport authorities for its expansion and modernisation that will benefit not only Bengal but also Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. During her review meeting with North Bengal districts at Uttar Kanya, Banerjee handed over a certificate to the airports authorities as a marking handing over of the land. There was a demand for additional land to take up the expansion work with the increasing load at the airport with development of North Bengal as a major tourism destination and rejuvenation of the regions economy with an overall development ensured by the Mamata Banerjee government in the past nine years. Sources said that if everything goes as planned then the expansion work will initiate at the earliest. The expansion work in the land adjacent to the existing airport will be carried out at a cost of at least Rs 500 crore. The expansion work is expected to get completed in two years time. There are a set of proposals to rename the airport after completion of the expansion work. Sources said that it has been proposed to rename the airport as Kavi Guru Rabindranath Tagore International Airport and the proposal has been sent to the Civil Aviation Ministry. Expressing her hope that more international flights will be operating from Bagdogra airport, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "The expansion will not only be beneficial for Bengal, but also for Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim." Bagdogra Airport is the only operational one in North Bengal and it is called the lifeline of the region in air-connectivity. In recent time it has come up as the seventeenth busiest airport in the country and it has set a record of facilitating movement of 10 lakh passengers in 2014-15. Gradually the passenger load went up to 25 lakhs per year and the necessity for expansion of the same was felt. In 2010, the state government and Indian Air Force had provided around 23 acres of land to the airports authorities on which the instrumental landing system was installed.

Stay updated with all the Kolkata Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.