Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in his review meeting on May 8 in his address in New Delhi had stated that the Airport at Jagdalpur will be operational very soon.
Notably, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on January 27 this year had performed bhoomi pujan for construction of terminal building and for taking up expansion works for Jagdalpur Airport at a function held here on Thursday.
During the programme, the Chief Minister had also inspected the construction site.
The Chief Minister while addressing gathering said that with the construction of terminal building, flights would be started soon which will surely benefit the people of Bastar division.
The State government has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Air India for launching flights whereas the monetary loss to the airline if any would be borne by the State government as per the MoU, Singh further said.
However, he expressed hope that there would be no loss for providing air services as most of the people want to travel by air from Jagdalpur.
Meanwhile, Bastar District Collector Amit Kataria had stated that the State government has approved Rs 25 crore for the fiscal 2016-17 to develop infrastructure for providing passenger air services in Bastar division.
Notably, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has commenced the process for developing small airports in Chhattisgarh under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
AAI is now looking for a Consultant for having talks with Chhattisgarh Government on land related matters pertaining to Airports and Aeronautical Communication Stations (ACSs) in the existing and upcoming airports to be developed by the civil aviation body in Chhattisgarh, official sources informed.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has signed MoU with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for promoting Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) in the State, officials informed.
Notably the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation is in the process of signing of MoU with State Governments to ensure their commitment and support to regional air transport operations by providing concessions as required under the RCS for making it successful.
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier released the draft Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for stakeholder consultation, with the twin objectives of promoting balanced regional growth and making flying affordable for masses.
The RCS is the key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy which was released by the Ministry on June 15, 2016. The scheme, which would be in operation for a period of 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports.
This would be achieved through a financial stimulus in the form of Central and State government concessions, as well as Viability Gap Funding to the interested airlines to kick-off operations from such airports, so that the passenger fares are kept affordable.
The fare for a one hour journey of appx. 500 km on a fixed wing aircraft or for a 30 minute journey on a helicopter would now be capped at Rs 2,500, with proportionate pricing for routes of different lengths / duration.
To reduce the cost of operations, Central Government would be providing concessions in the form of reduced Excise on VAT, service tax and flexibility of code sharing at the RCS airports.
Similarly, the State governments would have to lower the VAT on ATF to 1% or less, besides security and fire services free of cost and electricity, water and other utilities at substantially concessional rates. Similarly, landing and Parking charge and Terminal Navigation landing Charges shall not be imposed by the airport operator.funded through a levy on certain domestic flights.