NEW DELHI, August 27: The civil aviation ministry has approved 78 new routes under the fourth round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)- UdeDesh Ka AamNagrik (UDAN) following three successful rounds of biddings earlier. This will further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country. The North Eastern Region, Hilly States and Islands have been given priority in the approval process for the new routes, according to an official spokesman.
Special boost is being given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Rupsi, Tezpur, Passighat, Misa and Shillong. People will be able to fly from Hissar to Chandigarh, Dehradun and Dharmshala under these UDAN 4 routes. Routes from Varanasi to Chitrakoot and Shravasti have also been approved. Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0. Among other routes approved included Diu to Surat and Vadodara and back, connecting Varanasi with Shravasti, Kanpur, Prayagraj (Allahabad) and several others.
So far, 766 routes have been sanctioned under the UDAN scheme. The new routes would connect 29 served, 08 unserved (including 02 heliports and 01 water aerodrome), and 02 underserved airports. The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands. The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF(Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme. Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated. Since its inception, the civil aviation ministry has operationalized 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and 3 heliports.
List of Unserved airports:
- Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh
- Rupsi, Assam
- Bilaspur, Chattisgarh
- Hisar, Haryana
- Misa (Heliport), Assam
- Geleki (Heliport), Assam
- Minicoy, Lakshadweep
- Kavaratti (Water aerodrome), Lakshadweep
(Manas Dasgupta)