In a rare gesture of bonhomie between the ruling and the opposition parties in the Assembly in the Winter Session a motion was supported, which is supposed to help fliers from West Bengal.

The Opposition, BJP, on the ninth day of the Assembly session, supported a motion brought in by the treasury Benches.

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The motion moved by finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya was regarding resuming direct flights from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata to different European countries, whose operations were suspended over a period of time.

The proposal is in line with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal to explore proposals on resuming international flight services from Kolkata, especially to brighten international investment climate in the state.

Supporting the motion, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that the clearance from the Union government for direct flight operations from different European countries to Kolkata is already in place.

“Kolkata is already enlisted under the World Air Services Agreement and Open Sky Agreement. So a fresh approval from the Union government in the matter is not necessary. I will request the state government to initiate dialogues with all concerned. The state government should also apply for an extension of the international airport in Kolkata. If any hurdle surfaces, we, on behalf of BJP’s Legislative team will take up the matter with the Union government and also speak to the Union minister concerned. We are overwhelmingly supporting the motion,” the LoP said.

He also said that the extension of the international airport in Kolkata is facing hurdles because of the existence of a mazar there. He said that ministers in the state cabinet like Firhad Hakim or Siddiqulla Chowdhury should initiate relocating the structure.

“The state government should initiate removing the infrastructure bottlenecks on this count,” Adhikari said.

Adding further, the LoP said, “We don’t have any department like civil aviation in our state, though some states have. Snehasish Chakraborty, the state transport minister is present in the House. It would have been better had he introduced the resolution. But it is entirely the matter of the government. This facility is not directly under the aegis of the Union civil aviation ministry but could be initiated under the ambit of an international treaty or relations. This service is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru and only Kolkata does not have such a facility till date.”

Chandrima Bhattacharya also thanked the LoP for his gesture.