The government of Odisha has pleaded with the national government to open the Rourkela Airport in time for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in 2023.
On Saturday, Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, the chief secretary of Odisha, sent a letter addressing this issue to Sanjay Kumar Singh, the secretary of the union for steel.
Mohapatra demanded in the letter that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) complete the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and open the airport by October.
In order to get the Rourkela Airport ready for the 2018 Hockey World Cup, Mahapatra has asked Singh to personally check into the situation and ask SAIL to implement the MOU with AAI.
“I would like to inform you that, the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup-2023 is to be co-hosted by both Bhubaneswar and Rourkela City. It is scheduled to be held during January 2023 and State Government is leaving no stone unturned to make this mega event successful,” the letter read.
“The Rourkela Airport of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is being developed by Airports Authority India (AAI) for civil operations under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN. It was already licensed for 2B category Airport but due to operational issue, it was decided to upgrade into 2C category for which various works are being taken up by AAI and is scheduled to be completed by end of October 2022. In this respect, MoU was signed on 23rd April 2018 between SAIL & MI for the operation & management of flight connectivity under the UDAN Scheme which is not in force. I would like to inform that, AAI has already submitted a draft MoU to SAIL vide their Letter No. AAI/RCS/SAIL-MoU/2022/91-100 dt. 21.06.2022,” the letter further read.
The statement said, “It is a fact that the Rourkela Airport is the important facility which will play a big role in transportation during the forthcoming Hockey World Cup, and the cooperation from SAIL is highly anticipated to make it operational.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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