GANGTOK: As part of India's G20 Presidency, Sikkim has been chosen to host two meetings: the Business (B20) meeting on March 16 and the Startup 20 summit on March 18–19 in Gangtok.
Sikkim is the only state in the northeast to be chosen to host two different G20 gatherings is Sikkim.
Nevertheless, because there have been no flight services at the Pakyong Airport since October 2022, uncertainty lingers over how the delegates will get to Sikkim.
Vijay Bhushan Pathak, the chief secretary of Sikkim, however, stated that chartered flights will be used to transport the more than 150 delegates from 20 nations who are due to attend the two G20 events in Sikkim.
"We will make sure that the G20 delegates are flown in on chartered flights, even though commercial flight services to and from the Pakyong Airport won't start until the end of March.” The G20 Secretary confirmed the same.
The delegates were previously planning to travel to West Bengal's Bagdogra Airport in the absence of flight services. Given the five-hour drive from Siliguri to Gangtok, Sikkim accelerated NH-10 road construction. However, Pathak claimed that there would no longer be a need for the drive.
"Our priority is to repair the road that our delegates would use to travel from Pakyong to Gangtok. Similar to this, we have asked several ministries to concentrate on improving the appearance of homes, offices, and other structures along the Pakyong-Gangtok road”, he added.
“In order to properly showcase Sikkim's beauty, we implore the populace to decorate their homes with new paint and well-kept landscaping”, mentioned Pathak.
Before the ceremony, the Chief Secretary asked the Urban Planning Department to finish the ongoing repair work on the sidewalk and foot overbridge and to look into beautification projects.
Before the event started, the Urban Development Department promised to finish the work.
The Chief Secretary further disclosed that the MG Marg stretch would be closed from March 5 to March 19 in order to improve Gangtok and be ready for two G20 events.
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