DGCA To Survey Northeast Helipads, Airports

New Delhi, May 11 : The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would conduct detailed inspection of all critical airports and helipads, besides security audit of all helicopters and aircrafts within four weeks in the North-East.

This was conveyed by DGCA officials at a meeting chaired by Minister Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Bijoy Krishna Handique to deliberate on safety of air services in the region and alternate arrangements particularly for Arunachal Pradesh in the wake of suspension of Pawan Hans’s services.

The meeting was attended by representatives of DGCA, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Pawan Hans, besides officials of the Ministry DoNER.

Briefing newsmen, Handique said that he has convened the meeting to work out a way to resolve the crisis following suspension of helicopter services of Pawan Hans in the North-East.

“We have strengthened Lilabari and Tezpur Airport and if services are introduced to these stations then the demands of Eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang and Bomdila could be taken care of. At least there would be some connectivity,” he said.

The Minister asked Alliance Air to fly more flights to Lilabari daily, besides the regular flights. Besides, the Ministry of Civil Aviation would hold discussions with Air India and private operators to explore the possibility of providing adequate connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh.

Handique said the Ministry of Civil Aviation will conduct a detailed study of complementary routes between fixed wing and copter operations within 15 days.

Replying to question, the Minister said that it would depend upon the State Governments to decide on whether or not to resume the copter services in the region, though personally he is not against such resumption.

The helicopter services play a crucial link in providing connectivity with Pawan Hans alone ferrying 44,000 passengers last year in the region.

As reported, Handique has written to Civil Aviation Minister, Vyalar Ravi to direct commercial airlines to operate flights to Lilabari and Tezpur.