Sunday, 27 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Uttarakhand received the most proactive State under RCS-priority areas award at the global aviation summit held by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Hyderabad. This is Asia’s largest civil aviation event.
The Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia presented awards to the winners in different categories at the summit held by the ministry. Representing Uttarakhand, the state’s Tourism and Civil Aviation secretary Dilip Jawalkar received the award for most proactive state under RCS-priority areas from Scindia on the occasion. According to officials, this is the second time that the State has received this award, having won it first in 2020.
Jawalkar said that Uttarakhand being a mountain state, realizes the importance of air connectivity and infrastructure development. This is why the state has been proactive in developing air connectivity and its infrastructure with the help and guidance of MoCA. The necessary measures have been undertaken since the commencement of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under the UDAN scheme. Thirteen heliports are being developed and are in the advanced stage nearing completion. Two state-of-the-art passenger terminal buildings are being constructed at Sahastradhara and Kedarnath for the facilitation of RCS and Char Dham passengers. In addition to this, the State has identified 24 locations for the development of heliports/helipads which would ensure that the entire state of Uttarakhand is covered under regional connectivity. These include places of tourism and religious interest along with areas which are remotely accessible. He further informed that the state plans to commence service on Sahastradhara – Almora – Pithoragarh – Almora- Sahastradhara, Haldwani – Munsyari- Pithoragarh-Munsyari-Haldwani routes.
Based on the resources available and as active tourist spots there are five sites in Uttarakhand which have been identified to be developed as water aerodromes. The initial surveys have been done and the sites were found fit for sea plane operations.
The State officials informed that Wings India 2022, Asia’s largest event on civil aviation is being organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) jointly. The theme of the event this year is ‘India@75: New Horizon for Aviation Industry’. Delegations from over 15 countries along with States and Union Territories are also attending the event.
