New civil aviation policy to end the isolation of the Northeast

New Delhi: Smaller airports, smaller aircrafts, intra-regional air connectivity, and more frequent flights in and out of this geographically difficult region - apart from improving safety standards - could end the physical exclusion of the Northeast, Union Minister for the Development of the Northeast Region (DONER) Bijoy Krishna Handique told The Hindu.
“Our outlook is limited by geography,” Mr. Handique said, “We need to break the shell of isolation within which the people of the Northeast live, separating them from mainland India. We need to connect important towns in the interior with each other, and the major towns with the rest of India. Improving connectivity is the only way to promote real integration.”
It is to this end that the DONER Ministry has produced a policy document on civil aviation entitled ‘Multi-Utility Aviation in the North Eastern Region – An Alternative Innovative Model for Hastening Development', which Mr. Handique discussed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently. “The Prime Minister said that the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] would examine the document,” the Minister said.
Making a pitch for his new policy, Mr. Handique said: “We need a well-defined North eastern perspective in the civil aviation policy to put air connectivity on the fast track. It is our lifeline.”
Indeed, in the wake of the helicopter crash last month in which Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was killed, Mr. Handique had also met Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi to discuss his Ministry's proposal for a different approach to civil aviation for the North east.
20/06/11 Smita Gupta/The Hindu

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2011, New Jun 2011