New Delhi: Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia today virtually inaugurated a UDAN flight connecting Dehradun and Pithoragarh. The new flight service will be operated thrice a week, and it will be operated by “Fly Big” under the RCS UDAN Scheme 4.2.
Pithoragarh Airport has been developed under the UDAN-RCS scheme, with a cost of Rs. 6.68 Crore into a 2B VFR Airport. A 19-seater Twinotter DHC6-400 aircraft would operate between Dehradun and Pithoragarh to ferry the passengers.
The flight will operate initially 3 days a week as per the following schedule:
Scindia said the flight service will expand the tourism potential of Pithoragarh and neighbouring areas and connect the eastern regions of Uttarakhand including Almora, Chinyalisaur, Gauchar, Sahastradhara, New Tehri, to the capital city of Dehradun.
“As a result of its commencement, the road distance of about 11 hours will be covered in just 1 hour,” he said.
Elaborating on the work being done under the UDAN scheme, he said that the development of Dharchula, Haridwar, Joshimath, Mussoorie, Nainital, and Ramnagar heliports was also being done.
On other infrastructure development carried out under the UDAN scheme, Scindia said, “We have also identified 5 other heliports under UDAN 5.1 Round, which include Bageshwar, Champawat, Lansdowne, Munsiyari and Triyogi Narayan Heliports. Soon development work will be started on these 5 other heliports as well”.
Uttarakhand has been at the forefront in the implementation of the UDAN scheme and so far, 76 routes have been awarded for the state under UDAN, out of which 40 routes including Dehradun-Pithoragarh have been operationalized.
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami also joined today’s event from Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.
– global bihari bureau
