In his inaugural address at Sparkle 2011 gems and jewelery show in Surat, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that the central government was doing injustice to diamond capital Surat by not providing enough air connectivity.

Attacking the centre on this issue during his speech Narendra Modi said, “Surat is only business hub that has no air connectivity,” adding that “this has affected the development here”.

Modi said it is unfortunate that the friends in Delhi are interested in preventing the progress of this city.

“Here is the city that has an airport, but there’s no passenger plane, and if there’s one token plane, it departs at the time of meal or when the city is sleeping,” Modi said.

“This is the state where in Kutch Rann Utsav people pay Rs.2000 to 3000 for viewing Rann. The people of Surat who have achieved heights of progress in business are deprived of having good air connectivity, but one should know that this is Narmad’s land, and therefore if once the people decide, they would start operating their own airlines. The centre should understand this,” Modi added.

It should be mentioned here that though Surat is Asia’s fastest growing city, though Surat is second largest city of India’s most developing state Gujarat in terms of area and population both, the city has only one flight that connects it with Delhi.