New Delhi: Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia has written to the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Meghalaya, urging their personal intervention in expediting matters relating to strengthening of aviation infrastructure in these states. Scindia has reached out to the Hyderabad state government for timely extension of the concession agreement for Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL), and he has also requested both Hyderabad and Meghalaya to expedite the operationalisation of two airports which are to be covered under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) — UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik).
"While writing to K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana, Scindia has drawn his attention towards the issue of extension of period of Concession Agreement for Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL). He mentioned that a Concession Agreement (CA) dated December 20, 2004, has been executed between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and HIAL for the development, construction, operation and maintenance of Hyderabad International Airport. In terms of clause 13.7.1 of CA, M/S HIAL has requested for extension of its concession period for another 30 years beyond the initial 30 years, ie beyond March 23, 2038 and till 23.03.2068," said the statement. The state government has been requested to re-examine the request of HIAL for extension of the period of the Concession Agreement and furnish its recommendations to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
In his letter to Rao, Scindia has also underscored the issue of operationalisation of the Warangal Airport and its inclusion under RCS-UDAN. He said that the Warangal airport is within 150 km aerial distance of HIAL and can be developed with mutually agreeable solutions, which can be explored by the state government of Telangana with HIAL and Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Similarly, Scindia has also requested for personal intervention of Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, for the expeditious operationalisation of Tura airport. He mentioned that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched RCS-UDAN to enhance regional air connectivity from unserved and underserved airports in the country by making air travel affordable to the masses. Tura airport figures in the tentative list of unserved airports. Bids for helicopter operations have been received for two RCS routes — Shillong to Tura and Guwahati to Tura in special round of bidding 4.1 and the same is likely to be finalised soon as per the provisions of the scheme document.
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