"Direct connection with the business capital of India will open new dimensions," MP Rajdeep Roy

During his election campaign to Lok Sabha in 2019, Rajdeep Roy emphasised heavily on connecting Silchar with major cities. After he got elected and became the member of parliament from Silchar constituency he has had several meetings with the Aviation Ministry to improve the air connectivity.

Yesterday, low-cost career, aviation giant Indigo announced that it will extend its Mumbai – Guwahati, Bangalore – Kolkata flights to Silchar. Which means travellers travelling from Mumbai or Bangalore now do not need to change flights in Guwahati or Kolkata. Similarly, Indigo will fly its aircraft from Silchar to Mumbai via Kolkata and to Bangalore via Guwahati.

Sharing his initial reactions, MP Rajdeep Roy shared, “I have been trying to get us directly connected with all the major cities especially Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai. Thankfully the Government has now listened to our request and there is a constant effort going on to connect each and every point of Northeast with the rest of the country. We have had several meetings with Hardeep Singh Puri about this as aviation is a priority sector.”

If these direct flights will help boost trade in this region? “It will take some time to asses the impact in terms of business,” replies Roy. He adds, “But then it is going to be very interesting as there are many small and medium traders in Barak Valley who are actually connected to suppliers and traders in West Bengal, now because of this direct connectivity it will open up new horizons for businesses both small and large. Direct connection with the business capital of the country will obviously open up new dimensions for entrepreneurs trying to find new avenues.”

This region has another serious problem and that is the availability of specialist doctors especially neurologists and cardiologists. So will this direct connection with Bangalore and Mumbai will grow possibilities of doctors visiting from those cities? “Yes,” replies the MP who is a doctor himself and is a stakeholder at one of the large private nursing homes in Silchar. He adds, “Anyone who has a clinic or a diagnostic centre will obviously contact big doctors who can fly in and stand a day and then fly out in the evening. In the long run, we will see many such opportunities opening up.”

After Barak Bulletin broke the news last night about Indigo’s extension netizens in large number demanded a Delhi – Silchar direct flight. The MP says there are many more announcements in the pipeline and not only in the Aviation sector but Railways too.