NEW DELHI, Oct 9: Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has announced 18 new heli-routes to connect high-altitude areas of Uttarakhand.
These will be in addition to three new air routes on Dehradun-Pithoragarh-Dehradun, Pithoragarh-Hindon-Pithoragarh and Pantnagar-Pithoragarh-Pantnagar sector.
Scindia made the announcement after inaugurating the new terminal building of Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun. Developed at a cost of Rs 325 crore, the new building will be able to handle 1, 200 passengers during peak hour, an official spokesman said. Scindia, along with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and other dignitaries, also flagged off the helicopter service on various routes.
In multiple tweets later, Scindia stated, “We will build 4 heli-hubs in the country to start with in Juhu, Guwahati, Delhi and Bangalore (HAL Airport). We have identified 10 cities and 82 routes to develop helicopter corridors across the country, starting with 6 between Juhu-Pune-Juhu; Mahlakshmi Race Course-Pune; Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar.”
(Manas Dasgupta)