Bhubaneswar, July 4: The state government has decided to buy a seven-seater aircraft and made a budget allocation of Rs 40 crore for the purpose.

Sources said the government was in touch with the defence ministry and the Union home ministry for the technical staff required for flying and maintaining the aircraft.

The new aircraft is required because the state’s own has been lying defunct for the past seven years, forcing the use of hired choppers for the travel of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his ministerial colleagues.

“We inked an agreement with the Deccan Airlines to hire its chopper four months ago. They are charging Rs 36 lakh a month for a maximum of 30 hours of flying. If the flying hours exceed, the government will have to pay an additional Rs 1.20 lakh for every extra hour,” said a senior official. The government, therefore, would save a lot of money by buying its own aircraft.

Moreover, the government and the BJD leaders in emergency have been forced to depend on the helicopters of three industrial groups, including the Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA).

The need for state government having its own aircraft is being felt especially in the wake of large-scale industrialisation. “Frequent law and order problems are another issue, which has forced the state government to think in this direction,” said an official.

What worried the officials, however, is finding pilots and ground engineers for maintaining the aircraft on the state government’s salary.

At present, apart from using choppers of the Deccan Airlines and some industrial houses, the state for its anti-Maoist operations can use a helicopter provided by the Union home ministry.

On the other hand, the ongoing industrialisation in the state has opened up vast opportunities for the private players to operate flights to different parts of the state. The Bangalore-based Door-to-Door Service (DTDS) is operating a chartered flight between Bhubaneswar and Calcutta via Ranchi.

“If someone books, we are ready to offer our charted plane. We do have the required permission,” said Shyamal Chakraborty, sales manager, (east), DTDS Travels & Tour (P) Ltd.

Sources said another operator, Air Odisha, was planning to launch a private air service in the state as the civil aviation ministry has issued no-objection certificate for the operation of non-scheduled air transport services.