The Arunachal Pradesh government has approved the name for the under-construction Hollongi greenfield airport as “Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar”. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced this development during a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
“The under-construction Greenfield Airport has been named as Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar,” Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced. “This name of the lone airport in the Capital city will symbolise the age-old tradition and rich cultural heritage of the tribal state. It will also reflect the people’s age-old indigenous reverence for the Sun (Donyi) and the Moon (Polo),” the CM’s office said in a statement.
It is to be mentioned that CM Khandu wrote to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in May, proposing that the Greenfield Airport be named “Donyi Polo.”
The Chief Minister’s suggestion had sparked a social media debate, with many people supporting it and many others suggesting alternative names. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the greenfield airport in Hollongi, about 15 kilometres away, during his third visit to the state as Prime Minister in February 2019.
The Government of India approved the airport’s construction under the Capital Connectivity Scheme to provide fixed-wing air connectivity to the state capital, a long-held dream of Arunachalees. Though construction on the airport had been significantly slowed due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, the ambitious project is now nearing completion and is set to inaugurate on August 15.
The airport is being built on 685 acres of land at a cost of Rs 660 crore. The airport, which spans 320 hectares, will be able to accommodate narrow-body jets like the Airbus A321 type aircraft in the first phase and the Boeing 747, one of the largest passenger aircraft later.
The Airports Authority of India conducted the first flight test landing in the airstrip on July 19, when a Dornier aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited landed at the airport.
The Donyi Polo airport in Arunachal Pradesh can accommodate up to 300 passengers during peak hours and has eight check-in counters. “It is energy-efficient and will run on renewable energy. The runway of the new airport is 2300 metres long,” according to the reports.