Gautam Buddha airport to be upgraded for int'l flights

The government is all set to expand the runway of the Gautam Buddha Airport in Bhairahawa by 4,000 feet in the west so that it would have enough space for operating international flights.

We will very soon be sending a technical team to Bhairahawa to carry out feasibility study so that our plan to bring in more religious tourists from India, among other countries, to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, and other places of the country could be successful,? Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Dip Kumar Upadhyaya told the members of the press after winding up the three-day Second World Buddhist Summit here in Lumbini.

He also informed that they were meeting with Indian officials in Kathmandu after a week to sort out technical problems in operating flights to Bhairahawa airport from Indian cities.

In the declaration of the just concluded Second World Buddhist Summit-2004, the government has promised with the participating leaders and observers that it would prioritise the work of converting the Gautam Buddha Airport into an international one so that Buddhist pilgrims would find it easy to travel from Lumbini to other three important places of India namely Bodhgaya, Saranath and Kusinagar where Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment, spread his learning and passed away.

The technical team would decide necessary land to be annexed, compensated and then after we would call for bids for the expansion work,? said the Minister.

After the airport in Bhairahawa is expanded, we will be in a position to claim ourselves of being able to tell India that we are serious in building a broader Buddhist circuit to promote religious tourism in the region,? Minister Upadhyaya said.

The airport in Bhairahawa has so far been able to accommodate the 105-seater Fokker jetliner of Cosmic Air to land and take off easily.

The Minister said that Lumbini would attract more international and domestic Buddhist devotees and tourists as more archaeologically important places were being discovered in the Lumbini area.

Vice-chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust Omkar Prasad Gauchan said plans were underway to develop Lumbini Buddhist Circuit by incorporating the sites that have links with Lord Buddha. ?In the Lumbini Buddhist Circuit? there will be the inclusion of main sites like Tilaurakot, capital city of Kingdom of Kapilvastu where Lord Buddha grew with his father king, Ramagram and Devadaha, maternal home of Mayadevi, mother of Lord Buddha,? said Gauchan.

He also informed that there were 66 archaeologically important sites in and around the Lumbini area, which would also be attracting the Buddhist devotees and tourists thereby increasing their stay in Nepal.