Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday announced a 100-day plan for the country’s civil aviation sector, including policy measures and the development of airports as well as heliports. The civil aviation minister said the plan would focus on 16 areas. Addressing a press conference here, Scindia said the plan has been prepared after “combined consultations". Out of the 16 areas, 8 relate to policy and 4 pertain to reforms.
Among others, six heliports would be developed in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN. A new policy for Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities has also been announced.
The civil aviation sector has been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and is slowly coming on the recovery path. A few weeks ago, Scindia requested chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Chhattisgarh for personal intervention on matters such as land allocation for airports so that their development can be expedited. In his letters to the CMs, Scindia requested them to instruct the officers concerned to initiate action on matters such as deposition of funds with the Regional Air Connectivity Fund Trust and viability gap funding support for international UDAN flight operations, according to a statement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). Under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to select airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports, and keep airfares affordable.
The Centre-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) has embarked upon development and expansion of airports in the country at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore in the next four to five years in order to meet the growing passenger demand. In the letter written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Scindia mentioned that the state government is yet to hand over some portions of land for airports’ development.
Scindia said 14.31 acre land is needed at the Tirupati Airport to extend runway and for other operational requirements, the statement said. He added that 10.25 acre land at Rajahmundry airport for construction of residential colony and 50 acre land at the Kadapa airport for extension of runway and approach lighting system are yet to be handed over to AAI by the state government.
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The aviation minister also highlighted that the diversion of Eluru canal needs to be undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh government for extension of runway up to 4,000 m at the Vijaywada airport. He observed that an amount of Rs 14.64 crore needs to be deposited with the Regional Air Connectivity Fund Trust at the earliest by the Andhra Pradesh government, the MoCA statement mentioned.
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