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SURAT: The Federation of Surat Textile Traders' Association (FOSTTA) organised a rally here on Friday to press for providing more domestic and international flights from Surat airport.
Textile traders led by FOSTTA president Krishna Banka submitted a memorandum to airport controller demanding that the city should be connected with some of the important business cities like Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Bhavnagar, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
In a memorandum addressed to Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel, the textile traders have demanded that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) should entertain the air cargo operators willing to set up their flight services from Surat.
"With 45 lakh population, Surat is fast becoming a metro city. Due to the presence of the two big industries diamond and textile there is an urgent need to connect the city with important domestic and international destinations," said Krishna Banka, president of FOSTTA.
According to Banka, the Surat-Delhi flight service is running successfully since it was started in 2007. More than 5,000 diamond and textile merchants catch flights to various domestic and international destinations every month from Mumbai, since the Surat airport lacks the air connectivity.
Devkishan Manghani, secretary of FOSTTA, said, "We have threatened to start an agitation on the air connectivity issue. Surat is an important trade centre and it should get good air connectivity for domestic as well as international destinations."
06 March, 2010 by admin