Keeping in view its tourism potential and tougher geographical terrain being extremely vulnerable to natural calamity, the State Government is going to strengthen air connectivity in this region by setting up airbases in three important cities of Nainital district including Haldwani, Nainital city and Ramnagar soon.
Under this ambitious plan of making mobility swift, the State Government is going to construct one heliport in Nainital city, Ramnagar and one helidrom in Haldwani. As per the Government’s plan one heliport has to be set up at Nainital city, while a helidrom would be constructed in Haldwani, said Arvind Singh Hyanki, District Magistrate, Nainital.
Similarly, a helipad would be constructed at Ramnagar, he further said, adding necessary instructions have been given to the respective SDMs to identify land for these projects. According to the proposed plan, there is a need of 6000 square meter land for constructing a heliport in Nainital city which will have capacity for landing four helicopters, while the proposed helidrom in Haldwani would require 10,000 square meter land piece which will allow to land eight helicopters, added the District Magistrate.
Similarly, to construct a helipad in Ramnagar we need about 2500 square meter land to connect this tourist destination with air transportation services, added the officials concerned. At the same time the district administration Nainital has asked the respective officials concerned to identify the land for the aforesaid airbase project.
The respective SDMs have been asked to identify the land and submit a survey report in this regard soon so that the same could be submitted to the Government for further action, further said Hyanki. Presently there is no proper air base equipped with all necessary modern facilities in the Kumaon division, except the Pantnagar air port. And the Naini-Saini airstrip in the border district Pithoragarh is still under construction.