Helicopters To Reach Far Flung Places

While helicopter operations were not part of the first round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) at all, for UDAN II, the government received 141 initial proposals for air services, including 33 for helicopter operations, on 502 routes.

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Civil domain, helicopters represent a special and unique capability to extend the reach and expanse of businesses, and provide utilitarian services which are not easily accessible. With this, an announcement of a massive augmentation of air connectivity in the northeastern region set the tone for the first North East Development Summit which was inaugurated by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in Imphal. 17 new heliports will be opened in the region. The Northeast is all set to get India’s first-ever ‘Air Dispensary’ based in a helicopter and the Union Ministry of Development of Northeast (DONER) has already contributed `25 crore as part of the initial funding for this initiative. Disclosing this after a meeting with the representatives of Aviation Sector and helicopter service Pawan Hans, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said that for quite a few months, the DoNER Ministry had been exploring the idea of introducing a helicopter-based Dispensary/OPD service in such far flung and remote areas, where no doctor or medical facility was available and the patient, in need, also did not have any access to any medical care. The proposal put forward by the Ministry of DoNER, he said, has been accepted and was in the final stages of process in the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The services will start from Shillong and Imphal, both of