Officials inspect J’pore Airport for UDAN clearance

An eight-member team, comprising officials from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI), on Sunday visited the Jeypore Airport to take stock of infrastructure development for operation of flight services under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.

The team led by Civil Aviation Ministry Joint Secretary Usha Padhee reviewed the infrastructure for operation of flights.

The construction work of the airport developed jointly by the AAI and the State Government had begun in 2016. While September 2017 was the deadline set for completion of work, the State-level coordination and monitoring committee decided to operationalise it by February this year. However, the work hasn’t been completed even after three months of the revised target.

The officials discussed on the impediments leading to the delay in completion of the work.

“We hope all the pending works will be completed within three months,” said Koraput district Collector K Sudarshan Chakrobarthy.

Notably, the DGCA accorded licence to the Jharsuguda Airport earlier this month making it the State’s second airport to offer air connectivity from June 14, for which ticket bookings have already begun.

Jharsuguda, Utkela, Jeypore and Rourkela are the State’s four airports chosen under the UDAN scheme.