Lucknow, March 27 : The Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh has requested the Centre to give “in-principle approval” to its Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) and airport project at Jewar in Gautam Budh Nagar, close to Delhi.

In a letter dated March 13, and addressed to Ashok Chawla, Secretary, Department of Civil Aviation, Government of India, the state Government has also requested the Centre to convene an early meeting of Group of Ministers (GoM) preferably under the chairmanship of Union Cabinet Secretary, in which the state Government authorities should also be allowed to take part.

The letter, sent by Atul Kumar Gupta, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner, UP, also mentions Chief Minister Mayawati’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, held in May, immediately after she came to power and in which “the Prime Minister was supportive of the project”.

The project suffered a setback after the UPA Government referred it to a Group of Ministers (GoM), to examine the contractual issues. According to sources in the Union Government, the GoM held its meeting on January 31 and directed the Ministries of Law and Civil Aviation to mutually discuss and finalise all the legal issues. However, any communication between the ministries on this matter, remains pending, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the state Government officials claimed that in their earlier communication to the Centre they have already conveyed the state’s willingness to accept and abide by all the contractual agreements that have been entered by the Government of India. “By doing so, the state Government has already ensured its responsibility in suitably preparing the bidding documents for the selection of the developer for the proposed TIAH, so as to bind the developer to accept and abide by the contractual agreements of the GOI, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Promoters of Indira Gandhi International Airport,” claimed a senior UP Government official.

The biggest hurdle that TIAH is facing is the Government of India rule which does not permit a second airport within 150 kilometres of aerial distance of an existing one. Incidentally, the Government of India has recently given green signal to Navi Mumbai airport outside Mumbai due to growing traffic there.

The Jewar airport, falling under Gautam Buddh Nagar district, is in the east of Delhi. The Rs 5,000 crore project requiring 1,500 hectares of land is to be developed on Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Speaking to The Indian Express, officials of UP Industry Department blamed the Centre’s dilly-dallying attitude for increasing the cost of the project. “Despite getting the techno-feasibility approval in 2003, the future of the project still hangs in balance,” said the officials.