MIHAN- 80 years in the making

1936 
India was still 11 years shy of her much anticipated independence. The Britishers were facing the wrath of a hostile nation whose people couldn't bear being treated like animals in their own country by some foreign entity. But this entire scenario aside, the outsiders were drawing out several plans and ideas towards the development of India. One of those ideas was a fully functional and sophisticated Airport, meant for both civilian and Army aircrafts, which would also be a fully equipped service centre for these heavy duty planes. 

Then came World War 2. 
The plans had to be put in the back burner. 

The war lasted 6 long years, ending with a casualty list of 60 million, a whopping 3% of the total population of the Earth in 1939, which was estimated to be 2 billion. To make matters worse, the struggle for independence in India was getting the best of the authorities and it was becoming almost impossible to continue ruling the nation without facing backlash on a large scale. 

Thus, even though the Britishers were an integral part of the Allied forces who defeated Germany and ended World War 2, they were forced to leave India just 2 years later in 1947. Thus, "the plan" again took the back burner and this time for a better part of the 20th century! 

Nagpur, which was formed in 1703, and was the centre of the country, was the central hub of the mail delivery system for several years 
(1949 to 1973 to be precise). At exactly 12 midnight, 4 planes from Delhi, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta used to land at the airport, exchange mails, and head towards their respective cities. It used to be a sight to behold for the commoners of the city. 

During the early years of the 21st century, those long lost plans were taken out of the dark, dingy and dusty corners of rotting almirahs and thus the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) came into being. It was going to be a 2 part project- An International cargo hub and a vast residential area of 40.25 km square. It was financed by several Indian banks with a loan amount of 3000 million Rupees. The project was expected to add 12 million to the population of the city by direct and indirect employment. But factors like the recession, problems in acquisition of land, and a bunch of scams by some private parties put a brake on the project and a decade has passed since then. 

But now, as the new CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari have made MIHAN the priority of the government, there's a ray of hope building and if this promise by these two renowned men comes to fruition, this will be a breakthrough event in the rich history of our nation and will determine and define its future. It'll reduce employment in central india to a respectable level and with the recent inclusion of institutes like IIM and AIIMS, it won't be long before Nagpur gets to enjoy a strong presence alongside the NYs and Delhis and Tokyos of the world.