July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

HYDERABAD, July 28: Cri-ticising the decision to postpone schedule of flights from Hydera-bad airport, the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appealed to the prime minister, president, speaker National Assembly and federal finance minister to intervene in the matter and ensure that the flight schedule announced earlier is not violated.

At a news conference at the chamber’s secretariat here on Monday, the president of the chamber, Haji Mohammad Yaqoob, said that the fundamental purpose of the construction of Hyderabad Airport was to provide air travel facilities to the people of interior Sindh including Mirpurkhas, Hala, Tando Mohammad Khan, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Tando Adam, Kotri and Dadu which have a population of 25 million.

He argued that two big industrial estates in Kotri and Hyderabad had more than 2,000 big and small industrial units which were performing a positive role in the development of country’s economy.

Textile, engineering, cement, glass and other industrial products were being exported from Hyderabad region to foreign countries, the chamber president said and added that the traders and the industrialists were contributing Rs19 billion revenue per annum to the national exchequer in the shape of sales tax and federal excise duty.

The agriculture sector of the region was also very rich and rice, pulses, vegetables and fruits were also being exported and a handsome amount of foreign exchange was being earned for the country, Mr Yaqoob said.

The people of interior Sindh have every right to demand the re-introduction of air service from Hyderabad, he said and added that the former prime minister during his visit to Hyderabad had also issued instructions to the concerned authorities to make the Hyderabad Airport operational.

He said the director of the Civil Aviation Authority, Mohammad Jehangir Khan, had also told the chamber’s delegation as far back as 2006 that the airport was ready for C-130 and Fokker flights but its runway required extension for the landing of big planes.

He said the director had further said that Hyderabad was the only airport amongst small airports of the country where even night flight operation facilities were also available.

It was due to the combined efforts, the chamber president said, that the PIA had issued the flight schedule to start air service from Hyderabad Airport with effect from August 3, 2008. He, however, regretted that once again, red-tapism was trying to sabotage the air service on the flimsy argument that the runway was unfit.

The decision has created a lot of resentment and disappointment not only among the business communities of interior Sindh but also the people at large, the chamber president said and added “we refuse to accept the argument that the runway was not fit”.

He said that there are four big universities and research centres in Hyderabad region and air flight was very necessary for them as well as for the development of economy. He pointed out that the people, who travel by rail service from Hyderabad to Quetta, Peshawar and Rawal-pindi and other cities were paying railway fare Rs2.5 million per annum and spend no less than Rs6 million per month on air travels.