Ranchi, Aug. 31: Steel hubs Jamshedpur and Bokaro, as well as a clutch of smaller cities in Jharkhand can now hope for air connectivity.
The state government today signed an MoU with Union civil aviation ministry under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS), under which an hour-long flight up to 500km-600km should cost around Rs 2,500.
State civil aviation secretary K.K. Khandelwal and Union civil aviation ministry joint secretary Anil Shrivastava inked the pact at chief minister Raghubar Das's office at Project Building before him and Union civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha.
Jayant said they aimed to start flight services from Jamshedpur and Bokaro. "We aim to achieve it in the next six months or so. We will cover other cities such as Hazaribagh, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Dumka, Deoghar, Daltonganj, among others in the next phase," he told The Telegraph.
The MoU is in accordance with the National Civil Aviation Policy approved by the Centre this June to develop airstrips across the country from where affordable flight services could take off. Regional connectivity to strengthen economy and tourism is the main part of the policy that offers sops to stakeholders to develop the aviation sector, including lower VAT on aviation turbine fuel, free land acquisition by the government of India for airstrips and airports, and road, rail and metro connectivity.
The state government promised only 1 per cent VAT on air turbine fuel for airliners that introduce their flights under the regional connectivity scheme. The state will also facilitate land acquisition to build or expand or airstrips and approach roads.
Sources said to fly ATR planes with 62 to 74 seats, the runway needs to be at least 6,000-feet long.
Looking upbeat after the signing, chief minister Das said his government had been doing much to improve road and power connectivity and now it was time to improve air connectivity. "Air links are the need of the hour. We will build a new airport near Jamshedpur and develop other airstrips across the state," he said.
Authorities said a feasibility report for constructing an airport in Kandra near Jamshedpur would be final in a month or so.
Das also chaired a meeting on developing regional connectivity and improving airports and airstrips across the state. Jharkhand already has airports and airstrips in places like Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Gumla, Dumka, Bokaro, Sindri, Giridih, Daltonganj, Chaibasa, Chakulia and Dalbhumgarh.
Chief secretary Rajbala Verma, additional chief secretary R.K. Shrivastava, development commissioner Amit Khare, CM's principal secretary Sanjay Kumar, land reforms, revenue and registration secretary K.K. Soan, among others, attended the meeting.
MoU for streetlights
Jharkhand on Wednesday also inked an MoU with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) wherein the latter would install LED streetlights across urban local body areas, becoming the third state after Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan to do so.
In first phase are Deoghar, Basukinath and Dumka. It would then be implemented in the rest 42 urban local bodies, including the Jamshedpur agglomerate. State urban development secretary Arun Kumar Singh said the LED project would save 45-55 per cent in energy costs. Cost saved on energy bills by respective urban local bodies will be paid as annuity to EESL which will manage and maintain the services for next seven years.
