Sky the limit

SNS, Editorial | 28 August, 2016: Arunachal Pradesh is the only state in the Northeast without an airport. Until the proposed greenfield airport in the state capital, Itanagar, comes up, passengers have to catch a flight from either Dibrugarh or Tezpur in Assam. A recent report quoted the Arunachal Civil Society as having said the proposed airport may remain a distant dream. According to it, in June the Union Civil Aviation Ministry sought revised land details and costs within a month, but the Arunachal Pradesh government is yet to submit it.

Understandably, the delay is due to political instability -- the state witnessed the swearing-in of three chief ministers within four months. Now that Congress chief minister Pema Khandu’s ministry has settled down with a comfortable majority, it is expected to act promptly in the matter. The state got a railway connection only last year, 69 years after Independence.

The Centre’s rather grandiose scheme to dot the North-east with as many as 50 airports, landing strips and helipads during the 11th Plan period made no headway. And the only one at Baljek in the Garo Hills that President Pratibha Patil inaugurated in 2008 is still lying idle with no airlines making use of it. Today, the sky is virtually the limit for those willing to operate services in the region. And short-haul chopper trips are no longer a luxury in hilly and mountainous states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim.

These states are in the process of popularising chopper services to link their district headquarters and also places of tourist interest. And the treacherous weather condition in these states demand selection of sturdy and appropriate helicopters.

In 2010, the then Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio dwelt on the virtues of of saving costs by using helicopters. Many will agree with his views that when a VIP visits a certain place he is usually followed by a convoy of security personnel involving huge expense.