Not for the exodus of unemployed Odia youths, Surat is in the news for the newly-launched Bhubaneswar-Surat flight operations – a long standing demand.

It started way back in November 2017 when responding to an appeal by Odia youth Srikant, Union Minister Dharmendra wrote a letter to then Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, seeking his support to start direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat.

While Dharmendra’s request was being considered by the Ministry, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi also wrote letters in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Collective efforts between 2017 and 2020 finally produced positive results.