Jammu: Leh airport will be equipped with Ambulifts, to facilitate flyers with reduced mobility, by the end of this month.
Officials stated that Leh airport is among six airports where this facility will be operational by April end under ‘Accessible India Campaign’ (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) of Government of India.
“To facilitate passengers with reduced mobility, Divyang passenger on wheelchair and passenger on stretchers, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), as a part of this campaign, has procured 20 ‘Ambulifts’ for the airports, which are having scheduled flight operations of Code C and other advanced level aircraft but does not have aerobridge facilities. Leh airport is among such airports. The ‘Ambulift’ has been manufactured indigenously under the ‘Make in India’ policy,” officials added.
According to officials, 14 AAI airports are already equipped with Ambulifts. “The facility is presently operational at 14 airports namely Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Patna, Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Imphal, Vijayawada, Port Blair, Jodhpur, Belgaum, Silchar, Jharsuguda, Rajkot, Hubli and remaining six are likely to be operational at Dimapur, Jorhat, Leh, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Kanpur airports by the end of this month,” they stated.
The Ambulifts can cater to six wheelchairs and two stretchers with an attendant at a time and is fitted with Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning system.
“The initiative taken up by AAI under Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) of Government of India will provide convenient air travel to flyers with reduced mobility and also help ‘Divyangjan’ at airports where aerobridge facility is not available. Procured at a cost of Rs. 63 lakhs per unit, AAI is providing Ambulift facility at a nominal token charge to the operating airlines at its airports,” officials said.
They maintained that the Government of India had been working to take forward the vision of the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan in order to ensure fully accessible public infrastructure, including airports, railways stations and public transport systems.
“This new addition of Ambulift at various AAI airports will strengthen transportation system accessibility, which is an important vertical of the Accessible India Campaign,” they added.