Odisha Chief Secretary Writes To Defence Secretary On Operationalisation of Amarda Airstrip Under UDAN Scheme

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has written a letter to Union Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar requesting operationalisation of the Amarda Road Airstrip at Rasagobidapur in Mayurbhanj district under the UDAN scheme.

In his letter, the Chief Secretary said “I would like to inform that, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India has included Bhubaneswar-Amarda Road (Mayurbhanj) as a Special RCS route under UDAN 4.1 on request of State Government and M/s. Gsec Monarch has been selected as the Airline operator for the said route with 7 flights/ week using a 9 seater Aircraft.”

“The Northern part of Odisha is deprived of any kind of air-connectivity and the existence of Amarda Road Airstrip near Rasagobindapur in Mayurbhanj District has a huge significance for the nearby places. It will facilitate tourism connectivity to important places like Similipal National Park, Kuldiha Sanctuary and Chandipur & Talsari Sea beach, facilitate economic growth through trade, provide jobs, increase revenues from taxes and foster the community relationship with neighbouring States and communities. State Government has requested DRDO several times in this respect for providing NOC to use the airstrip for commercial flight operation under RCS-UDAN but there has been no response till date for which the flight operation is in a stalemate situation.”

“I would again like to request you to kindly look into the matter and issue necessary instruction to DRDO for use of the Amarda Road Airstrip in Mayurbhanj District by State Government for flight operation under RCS-UDAN in the larger public interest and hope that DRDO would issue NOC in this regard at the earliest.”