UDAN from Odisha will expedite the pace of State’s economic growth, as target has been set to start regional connectivity

1. UDAN From Odisha

2. UDAN from Odisha will expedite the pace of State’s economic
growth, as target has been set to start regional connectivity
flights from Jharsuguda Airport during first week of February,
2018.

3. Principal Secretary General Administration Ashok Kumar Meena
gave out details after the meeting of the State Level Coordination
and Monitoring Committee held.

4. Chief Secretary A P Padhi chaired the meeting attended by the
Director Civil Aviation Pradeep Kumar Biswal and other senior
officers.

5. The infrastructure of Air Strip at Rourkela is now UDAN ready. The
Obstacle and Limitation Surface (OLS) Survey of all the four
airports have been completed. The chief secretary directed to
expedite the process for finalization of operational details for
Rourkela Airport. He also directed to make Utkela and Jeypore
strip UDAN ready by March, 2018.

6. Director General of Police Rajendra Prasad Sharma apprised
that around 135 police and 27 fire personnel from the State
government have already been trained for providing security
and fire services in the regional airports.

7. Available data show that five airstrips of Odisha including Biju
Patnaik International Airport have been selected for Phase-I of
Regional Connectivity Scheme ( RCS)-UDAN. Other four airstrips
are Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Utkela (Kalahandi) and Jeypore
(Koraput). From among these, Biju Patnaik International AirPort,
Bhubaneswar will serve as mentor airport for RCS. Jharsuguda
airport has been developed under joint aegis of Airports Authority
of India and the Government of Odisha.

8. Rourkela airstrip will be operated by AAI with security and fire
personnel support from the State government. The other
airstrips at Jeypore and Utkela are being developed with
funding from both the State government and Airports Authority
of India.

9. The flight operator company appraised that regional connectivity from
Kolkata to Rourkela has been scheduled to be started from January
23, 2018. The flight from Jharsuguda is scheduled take-up from
Jharsuguda during first week of February, 2018. This flight will
connect Jharsuguda, Raipur and Jagdalpur.

10. Notably, the State Government is providing both the manpower
and financial support to make the regional connectivity scheme
viable during initial periods. The State government has decided
to reduce VAT from 5 pc to 1 pc and provide 20 pc of the Viable
Gap Funding. The State government is also providing land,
security and fire services.

11. The electricity and water would also be provided at minimum
rate. The State government has decided to provide these
subsidies and financial assistance for regional air connectivity
as a part of its ‘Make in Odisha’ initiative.

12. It is expected that such subsidies and financial assistance will
keep the ticket cost at affordable level. Sources say, the average
price of a ticket to be paid by the passengers for these flights
would be around Rs 2,500.

13. 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.

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