CM Raghubar Das met Civil Aviation Minister for State Jayant Sinha in New Delhi on Sunday. He requested Sinha to pave way for commencement of air travel between Ranchi and a number of State capital cities and cities with historic, religious and cultural importance. These cities primarily include lucknow, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Raipur, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Pune. He insisted on starting morning flights from Ranchi to Delhi, apart from advocating increased rounds of flights from Ranchi to Kolkata, Mumbai and Patna.
Das also fielded for revamping smaller airstrips in a number of cities in Jharkhand, which could ultimately increase air connectivity between those cities. He requested him to develop undeveloped airstrips at Daltonganj, Hazaribagh, Dumka and Giridih, apart from developing Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Bokaro as per civil aviation policy. He said that in order to start night aviation at Dumka, Bokaro and Dhanbad, necessary facilities should be increased.
Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, Principal Secretary to the CM Sanjay Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance and Planning) Amit Khare, Transport Secretary KK Khandelwal and Principal Resident Commissioner DK Tiwari were also present in the meeting. This meeting of CM with Sinha carries larger importance, as it is seen as a concrete step to change the sky of civil aviation in the state very soon.
Das said that facilities related to halting airplanes at Ranchi airport during nights should be increased as per international standards in order to start international morning services from Ranchi. The demand of this facility has been made at many other platforms related to trade activities in recent past also.
Sinha assured the CM that the points raised by him would be considered on priority basis. He said that survey will be conducted by private airplane companies very soon and all necessary steps will be taken thereafter. He said that Jamshedpur, Dumka, Dhanbad and Hazaribagh airports would be developed on priority. The CM requested him to start mini-civil aviation from Ranchi to Jamshedpur, Deoghar and Dhanbad.