Bhubaneswar/ Bhawanipatna: Commercial flight operations to Utkela airport in Kalahandi district will commence soon as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted license in this regard.
Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote, “Glad to share that #UtkelaAirport in #Kalahandi district has received DGCA license to start flight operations. Soon flight operations will commence to #Bhubaneswar. It will boost connectivity, commerce & tourism, fulfilling aspirations of people of the region.”
Initially, Utkela will connect with Bhubaneswar, followed by Raipur. The airport is being developed under RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme)-UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagarik). The state government has spent Rs 162 crore for land acquisition, construction of runway and buildings for the airport.
The Commerce and Transport department has thanked the DGCA for licensing Utkela airstrip (2B-VFR) under UDAN scheme. A team led by DGCA’s regional deputy director, chief aviation security officer (CASO), nodal authorities of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and CISF had visited the airstrip last month to assess the facilities and other safety benchmarks in presence of officials of the state Works department.
The airstrips at Amarda, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Rangeilunda, Rourkela and Utkela of the state have been identified for development under UDAN scheme. Of these, flight operations have commenced from Jharsuguda, Jeypore and Rourkela airports after the revival of these airports.
The AAI has completed expansion/upgradation works at its Jharsuguda and Rourkela airports, Union MoS for Civil Aviation, VK Singh told in Rajya Sabha, Monday. In a written reply to a question of BJD MP Sasmit Patra, Singh said AAI has made a total expenditure of Rs 196.97 crore for development of Bhubaneswar airport and the projected expenditure in the year 2023-24 is Rs 139 crore.
On the proposed international airport at Puri, he said the state government has submitted an application under GFA Policy, 2008 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for grant of ‘site-clearance’ for development of the greenfield airport at Puri.
As per GFA Policy, proposal has been sent to the concerned stakeholders including AAI, DGCA and Ministry of Defence (MoD) for their comments. After completion of this consultation with stakeholders, the proposal is required to be placed before the Steering Committee on greenfield airports for their recommendation, with respect to award of site clearance, he said.
As per the GFA Policy, 2008, the responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the project, land acquisition and R&R rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective state government (in case the state government is the project proponent), Singh informed the Upper House.
PNN
