PURNEA, Jan. 6 -- Road connectivity between the Purnea civil enclave and National Highway-31 remains in limbo despite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Bihar government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for its construction in 2023, causing inconvenience to passengers accessing the airport. In reply to an RTI query regarding the construction of the connecting road, the AAI, in a letter dated January 2, 2026, said in one line "that the onus of building the road from the Purnea civil enclave to NH-31 lies with the Bihar government". At a high-level meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar and attended by the AAI and Defence officials on August 24, 2024, a decision was taken to construct an underpass on the proposed 9-km-long road connecting NH-31 near the Weapon Storage Area (WSA). Subsequently, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), in a letter dated October 29, 2024, asked the Bihar government to resolve issues hampering the construction of the underpass. However, it was later observed that the Indenting Authority (IA), while applying on the MoD's No Objection Certificate (NOC) portal for road connectivity, made no mention of the underpass, contrary to the decision taken at the chief minister-chaired meeting. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Purnea airport on September 15 last year, a surge in passenger traffic has highlighted the need for a four-lane approach road. Group Captain (retd) Vishwajeet Kumar expressed concern over what he described as a lackadaisical approach to the construction of the connectivity road. "Even after the MoU was signed, no progress is in sight on road connectivity, which is indispensable for any airport," he said. Social activist Vijay Kumar Shrivastava said that the airport has so far been denied direct flights to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Guwahati, partly due to inadequate road connectivity. He also pointed out that the tender for the construction of the permanent terminal building has not yet been awarded. At a top-level meeting held in July last year, officials had said the permanent terminal building would be completed within two to three years....