Bhubaneswar: The Jharsuguda airport is all set for regional connectivity flights under UDAN scheme as the state government Tuesday decided to launch flight operations from the airport from November, 2017.
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, who chaired a meeting of the State Level Coordination and Monitoring Committee at the Secretariat in this regard informed this to media.
Padhi said more than 60 police and fire personnel have been trained for providing security and fire services in the regional airstrips. He also directed police to nominate more officers for such training to meet the requirement of new air strips as and when they are operationalised. The state government will train additional 88 police personnel and seven fire personnel for the purpose.
Meanwhile, special secretary general administration and civil aviation Ashok Kumar Meena said in persuasion of the MOU signed between the state government and AAI earlier, the target was set to develop Jharsuguda airstrip to a full-phased airport by April, 2018.
Both the state government and AAI have requested the authorities of Rourkela Steel Plant to make Rourkela airstrip ready for UDAN.
According to officials, five airstrips of Orissa including Biju Pattanaik Inpernational Airport were selected for UDAN scheme in Phase-I. Other four airstrips were Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Utkela (Kalahandi) and Jeypore ( Koraput). From among these, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar serves as mentor airport while among other four, Jharsuguda airport would be developed under joint aegis of AAI and the state government.
The Chief Secretary directed to expedite infrastructure development at the airstrips of Rourkela, Jeypore and Utkela for making those ready for UDAN flights.
Officials said that the state government has decided to provide subsidies and financial assistance for regional air connectivity as a part of its ‘Make in Orissa’ initiative. It is expected that such subsidies and financial assistance will keep the ticket cost at affordable level. The average price of a ticket to be paid by the passengers for these flights would be around Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.
The routes like Bhubaneswar to Utkela, Utklela to Raipur, Bhubaneswar to Jeypore, Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda to Ranchi, and Bhubaneswar to Rourkela have been suggested for regional connectivity. “Air Odisha has been asked to fetch aircraft for operation from Jharsuguda,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed issues related to setting up of air fueling station base. These bases will be set up at Utkela and Jeypore. BPCL would set up the base at Jeypore. The ministry of civil aviation would allocate Utkela to one of the government oil companies, officials said, adding, oil companies were requested to set up fueling base before commencement of the commercial operation of the flights. PNN
