Bhopal, June 27: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged Union Minister of State for Aviation Prafulla Patel to start Bhopal-Jeddah flight.

In his letter, the Chief Minister has said that a large number of Muslim pilgrims go to Jeddah from Madhya Pradesh for performing Haj. Due to lack of requisite arrangements, these pilgrims have to go to Mumbai and then take a flight to Jeddah from there. He suggested that if immigration and customs facilities could not be provided immediately at Bhopal, at least a direct flight to Jeddah from Indore should be introduced.

In the letter, the Chief Minister has also drawn attention of Minister of State for Aviation towards the application pending with him for waiver of Rs one crore 62 lakh against hangar charge of air wing units of NCC Directorate. He pleaded that this due amount should not be realised with the point of view of promoting NCC's air wing.

The Chief Minister urged Patel for early decision on allotment of about 1.5 acre additional land for state hangar by Airport Authority of India to the state government. The letter says that at present this land is under the use of State Aviation Department and therefore, allotment is only a mere formality.

The Chief Minister has also drawn Patel's attention towards the need to start Jabalpur-Nagpur-Chennai and Mumbai-Indore-Bhopal-Jabalpur-Kolkata air routes on priority basis.

The Chief Minister has also expressed gratitude towards Patel for starting news air services at Indore and Bhopal, night landing facility at Jabalpur and clearance to runway work at Bhopal.