AGARTALA — Former Tripura Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday urged the Civil Aviation Minister (Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu) to declare the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport in Agartala as an international airport. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Deb said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new integrated terminal building of MBB Airport built at a cost of INR 500 crore on January 4, 2022. “The Tripura government has provided INR 18.85 crore to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to start aircraft operation in the Agartala-Chittagong (Bangladesh) route. The airport can handle 1,000 domestic and 200 international passengers during peak hours,” he informed the House. The airport can handle 3 million passengers annually, he said, adding that the airport has instrument landing system and ground lighting system to facilitate landing and takeoff of any big aircraft. Demanding to set up immigration check-posts at the airport, he said the MBB Airport is the second biggest airport in the northeast (after Guwahati Airport) which is very important for the passengers of the region. AAI sources said the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati and the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal...