Bhubaneswar, Nov. 2: A commercial flight service between the state capital and Rourkela with a stopover at Jharsuguda started here from today.
“Our nine-seater aircraft, Cessna, will fly everyday to Rourkela via Jharsuguda and be back in Bhubaneswar,” said chairman-cum-managing director of Air Odisha R.K. Pani.
The one-way fare between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela is Rs 5,499 and the cost to fly from Jharsuguda to Rourkela is Rs 1,799. It will take nearly two hours to reach Rourkela by air. By road it takes nearly 10 hours to reach Rourkela and about eight hours to Jharsuguda.
Business and industrial circles were happy over commencement of the service. “With a flight connectivity, there would be lots of opening coming to the region,” said Mahesh Vazir, president of the Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industries, which was instrumental in commencement of the flight operation.
“It was a long-standing demand of the residents of Rourkela to establish an aerial connection with at least the state capital,” said Vazir.
Apart from the Rourkela Steel Plant, there are other plants, run by Adhunik Metaliks and Scan Steel, a cement plant at Rajgangpur, the heavy engineering unit of Larsen & Toubro at Kansbahal and above 25 functional sponge iron units and 15 induction furnaces near Rourkela. Besides, there are several iron ore mines owned by the Steel Authority of India and other private companies.
Earlier, attempts to connect Rourkela with rest of the country had failed. The erstwhile Vayudoot had also launched its service for some time. A recent attempt to connect Rourkela with Calcutta via Bhubaneswar and Jhamshedpur by air had failed.
Jharsuguda, an upcoming industrial hub, has units, including the Vedanta Group. Bhusan Power and Steel Limited has established a plant and a captive power plant at Thelkoli. The Odisha Power Generation Corporation has two of its thermal units in the town. Besides, there are a number of coal mines at IB valley and Brajarajnagar.
“Now, our officials, who visit Bhubaneswar, can visit the plant here,” said HR head of the Vedanta Group Rajiv Nayan.
