Government approves Silchar-Imphal air-route; Northeastern states given priority

In a good turn of affairs and fulfilling a long-standing demand, the Silchar-Imphal air route has been approved under UDAN along with 76 other routes in the 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The North Eastern Region, Hilly States, and Islands have been given priority in the approval process for the new routes, a Civil Ministry release said.

Silchar To Shillong, Shillong To Guwahati, Agartala To Shillong, Imphal To Shillong, Shillong To Dibrugarh are among other routes approved on Thursday.

“It will further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country” the release further said.

“Special boost is being given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Rupsi, Tezpur, Passighat, Misa and Shillong. People will be able to fly from Hissar to Chandigarh, Dehradun and Dharmshala under these UDAN 4 routes. Routes from Varanasi to Chitrakoot and Shravasti have also been approved. Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0,” it further adds.

It can be mentioned here that the Silchar-Shillong route was approved in earlier bidding also and was awarded to Air Deccan. But the airlines couldn’t keep its promise and hence route was withdrawn has been freshly bid.

So far, 766 routes have been sanctioned under the UDAN scheme. 29 served, 08 unserved (including 02 heliports and 01 water aerodrome), and 02 underserved airports have been included in the list for approved routes.

The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands. The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF(Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme.

Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated. Since its inception, MoCA has operationalized 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and 3 heliports.