E-Paper
Airports will be developed in these three places in Karnataka
Hassan, Kolar and Raichur are three places listed from Karnataka under a list of potential airstrips that will be developed in the next round of the central government's UDAN scheme.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) released a list of places from across the country that qualified as under-serving or un-serving airstrips, and proposed to develop them in the next round of the central leadership's UDAN scheme. Karnataka's Hassan, Kolar and Raichur have made it to the list and may see their airstrips developed soon.
The government analysed these places on basis of their proximity to wildlife sanctuaries, tourist destinations and religious places. While Hassan and Kolar were close to spiritual places, Raichur was close to tourist destinations. The list had 10 places in proximity to wildlife sanctuaries, 29 in proximity to tourist destinations and 15 in proximity to spiritual places, listing a total 54 airstrips.
The list featured 11 places from Madhya Pradesh alone, 10 from Rajasthan and seven from Bihar.
“Proposed Airstrips near Wildlife and Tourist Destinations in India to be considered in next rounds of UDAN,” the list from the MoCA read, adding, “Non-operational airstrips were analysed for its proximity to tourist, wildlife, religious destinations and 54 airstrips have been identified as potential airports.”
What is the UDAN scheme?
UDAN stands for Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik, which identifies under-serviced air routes across the country for development and better regional connectivity. The program also seeks to make air travel affordable for all sections of the society as it offers flights at subsidized rates.
In the five years since the civil aviation ministry's flagship program was launched, it has benefited over 1 crore passengers as on August 4, a report by the Travel Daily Media said.
