MoCA has granted site clearance for the new Greenfield Airport project in Kerala's Kottayam district

The proposed 'Greenfield Airport' project in Kerala's Kottayam district, where the Sabarimala temple is situated, received site permission from the Ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) on Monday. For the hundreds of devotees who go to the state to visit the revered shrine of Lord Ayyappa, this announcement is anticipated to be advantageous.

After several rounds of discussions between the ministry and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), the project's promoter, the project was approved. According to the Ministry, this airport will increase connectivity and contribute to the region's overall development. With an estimated expenditure of Rs. 4,000 crores, the Kottayam Greenfield Airport project would be built on a 2,250-acre plot of land using a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The announcement of the new airport at Sabarimala was shared on Twitter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. He hailed it as "great news" for tourism, especially for people travelling for spiritual reasons. Wonderful news, especially for spiritual tourism, Modi wrote. In a previous tweet, Prime Minister Modi mentioned his own Lok Sabha district of Varanasi, which is home to the Kashi Vishwanath shrine, and urged people to visit and experience the historic city of temples. There would be more than ten reasons to visit the sacred location, according to him, and he called Kashi "mesmerising."

The construction of a new airport at Sabarimala has begun, according to confirmation from Kerala's chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week, according to news agency PTI. He made the declaration at the groundbreaking of a huge road project in the region of Pathanamthitta, which is home to the well-known hilltop temple of Lord Ayyappa. He said, "Process has been started to build a new airport for Sabarimala," at an online gathering. The required authorizations have been obtained.