Enhance Air Connectivity To Jharsuguda And Operationalise Rourkela Airport: Odisha CS To Civil Aviation Secy Rajiv Bansal

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has written a letter to Union Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal requesting him to enhance flight connectivity to the Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda and operationalisation of the Rourkela Airport in view of the upcoming Hockey World Cup in 2023.

In the letter, the Chief Secretary said, “I would like to inform that, the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup – 2023 is scheduled to be held from 13th to 29th Jan 2023 at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. We are extremely thankful for the steps being taken at your end to make the Rourkela Airport operational at the earliest.”

“As an alternate to Rourkela Airport, the VSS Airport at Jharsuguda is the nearest domestic Airport having connectivity with cities like Kolkata, Raipur, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bhubaneswar. Further, the Jharsuguda city is well connected with Rourkela via road as well as railway. Thus, the access to Rourkela city will be made easier if the air connectivity to Jharsuguda is enhanced.”

Now it is a matter of concern too that Spice Jet is cancelling scheduled flights from different Metro Cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata, which badly affects the connectivity to the State and to the utmost dissatisfaction of the general public at large.

“It is, therefore, requested to kindly look into the matter in order to increase the flight frequency/connectivity from important cities to Jharsuguda especially during the month of January, 2023 in view of the upcoming Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 so as to cater the passenger demand,” he wrote.