Union Civil Aviation Secretary, Pradeep Singh Kharola Monday assured the state government of immediate action with regard to initiation of night flight operations and international flights from the Srinagar airport.
According to an official spokesperson, the union secretary,who was on a daylong visit to Srinagar, held a meeting with Chief Secretary BVRSubrahmanyam and other State Government officials. During the meeting importantissues pertaining to Civil Aviation in the J&K circuit, including the nightflight operations, came up for the discussion.
“Regarding the issue of night flights to and fro fromSrinagar and Jammu, it was informed that while the watch hours at SrinagarAirport had been extended till 10 pm and those at Jammu Airport till 9 pm,commercial airlines were yet to announce their late evening/night schedules,”official spokesperson said. “The Union Secretary assured the State Governmentof immediate action in the matter. He asked Principal Secretary Civil AviationDepartment to hold a meeting with the Airline operators at Srinagar to resolveresidual, technical or operational issues, if any, in operating night flights.”
The State government also raised the issue of startinginternational flights from Srinagar Airport, which is a declared internationalairport.
Chief Secretary requested the Union Secretary to favourablyconsider the request of the state government for start of international flightsto and from Srinagar including to destinations like Kualalampur- Malaysia, Dhaka-Bangladeshand Singapore in the East and Jeddah, Riyadh-Saudi Arabia Istanbul-Turkey andother places in the West.
The Union Secretary assured of all support of Government ofIndia and said that the requests of the state Government would be considered onpriority.
Regarding extension of existing Airport at Kargil, themeeting was informed that the survey to ascertain the technical feasibility forextension of the runway has been concluded and a team of experts from theCentre for carrying out the final survey was expected soon.
The Union Secretary assured the State Government that thenecessary feasibility studies regarding expansion of the Kargil Airport runwayand other matters would be completed in a fixed time frame and all efforts madeto get the work executed on priority.
Principal Secretary, Civil Aviation Department briefed the Union Secretary about the crucial role of Civil Aviation sector in a tourist and hilly state like J&K. He also briefed the Union Secretary about many pending issues requiring active consideration by the Government of India.