Naveen seeks e-Visa facility at Odisha airport

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government today urged the Centre for introduction of e-Visa facility at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here.

In a letter to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged for the introduction of e-Visa to facilitate the travel of arriving tourists.

"In order to facilitate the travel of arriving tourists, it is requested that e-Visa facility may be introduced for Bhubaneswar airport for the citizens of the eligible nations, which would encourage people from the countries connected by the recently launched international connectivity," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote in the letter.

We had entered into an MoU with Air Asia in which the state government is providing viability gap funding for the international carrier for its operations from Bhubaneswar," he added.

Patnaik said there has been an extremely good response to this international connectivity with the Indian citizens travelling abroad through Bhubaneswar.

"Besides, a sizable number of foreign arrivals have also been noticed," Patnaik said in a letter to the Home Minister.

(With inputs from IANS)