Odisha to develop four new airports under UDAN

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Friday decided to develop new four airports in the state to enhance regional air connectivity by September, 2017.

The government will develop four airports at Utkela, Jeypore, Jharsuguda and Rourkela for the regional air connectivity.  This was decided in a review meeting presided by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the state Secretariat here today.

The Chief Secretary reviewed the Regional Air Connectivity initiatives in Odisha under the Ude Deshki Aam Nagarik (UDAN) scheme.

Routes like Bhubaneswar to Utkela, Utklela to Raipur, Bhubaneswar to Jeypore, Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda to Ranchi, and Bhubaneswar to Rourkela were suggested for regional connectivity during the meeting.

Padhi directed officials to complete the short term project report for operationalization of air ports at Utkela and Joypore by May 31. The Executive Engineers of the concerned district were instructed to prepare the report.

Chief Secretary further directed to expedite preparation of long term DPRs for full fledged development of these Airports.

The meeting deliberated on Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and other subsidies to the airline operators to kick-off operations during the initial period keeping passenger fares at affordable levels.

As per initial calculations, the average price of a subsidized ticket to be paid for these flights by the passengers would be around Rs.2500/- The subsidy would be borne by the Central and State Govt on 80:20 ratio basis.

Issues relating to deployment of security personnel, fire services, power & water supply, provision of airport filling station near the airstrip and notification of regional connectivity airports were discussed and resolved in the meeting.

Director General of Police Kunwar Brajesh Singh, Special Secretary, GA and Civil Aviation Ashok Kumar Meena, Special Secretary, Home Lalit Das, Inspector General Fire Services Santosh Bala, Additional Secretary Finance Aswani Kumar Mishra along with other senior officers from concerned departments participated in the meeting.