Itanagar, Sep 4: State Civil Aviation Minister Balo Raja today, while speaking at the North Eastern Region Ministers’ Conference on Civil Aviation and 3rd North-east Aviation Summit urged the Union Government for connectivity to other major cities in the country, particularly to the southern part of the country to benefit patients, students and business class in particular.
While expressing happiness at the commencement of Air-Cargo services by Indigo to New Delhi, he thanked the Central Government and PM Modi for turning the dream of having an airport in the State Capital into reality.
Raja, however, requested for up-gradation of the Tezu Airport, that initially came under RCS UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) but was later discontinued with the grounding of fleet by the airline company.  Citing that “Tezu Airport is the lifeline for the entire Eastern Part of Arunachal Pradesh”, he requested for the extension of runway, for operation of Airbus-320 type of Aircrafts, with installation of Instrument Landing System, for ensuring dependability and reliability.
Raja also requested the Ministry and other stakeholders to consider for induction of small aircrafts having sophisticated Short Take Off and Landing System, which will be ideal for the ALGs (Advance Landing Grounds) in the state, which will ensure connectivity with the nearest Airports, like Dibrugarh & Itanagar.
He further requested for deployment of CISF personnel at the Airports in the State, especially at the Itanagar Donyi-Polo & Tezu Airports, which are currently being handled by the State Police Personnel on stop-gap arrangements. He said “since the Airport security is a very specialized one, and the trainings given to the Police personnel is for other security purposes, the Ministry is requested to consider, early deployment of CISF personnel at the Airports, by providing them with proper accommodations in the premises itself.”
He also opined that the State could have its own Industrial Security Forces with similar trainings as the CISF, so that their services can be used in Airports and other Industries. For this purpose, he said that an Aviation Security Training Centre can be established at the Donyi-Polo Airport under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, thereby giving employment opportunities to Page 2.. 
....Balo Raja urges centre to increase
the youths as well. To benefit the youths more, he urged the Ministry to explore for establishment of Skill Development & Flying Aviation Training Organization, in collaboration with national institutions, to equip and train youths also in this field.
To evacuate medical patients from far off locations, Raja envisioned having a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, in the form of Helicopter Ambulance, which can be stationed at Guwahati being the midpoint, and on requirement, its services can be availed by the North Eastern States. 
To ensure better and easy connectivity to the visiting tourists, he also opined that Donyi-Polo Airport be utilized to accommodate four big helicopters at a time.
He informed that the government has identified locations for establishment of State-of-the-Art Heliports in every district headquarters and has prepared its Concept Papers as well as DPRs.  On announcement of its Policy by the Ministry as mentioned, he informed that the DPRs will be submitted for approval. 
This was the 3rd such conference, with the 1st and 2nd being held in Assam and Meghalaya respectively.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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