Jharsuguda is the powerhouse of Odisha; Jyotiraditya Scindia

NFTV:Jharsuguda: Monday union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia attended the Udan Utsav at Veer Surendra Sai Airport here at Jharsuguda. While addressing the meeting Mr. Scindia said that Veer Surendra Sai airport has performed very well during the COVID Pandemic and it’s doing well this time too. The number of passengers increasing day by day. During his speech, Mr.Scindia termed Jharsuguda as the powerhouse of Odisha.

Mr.Scindia spoke about the history and glory of the rich land of Jharsuguda and nearby. He released a report on “The Socio-Economic Impact of RCS-UDAN Scheme: Phase I” prepared by the Indian School of Business. A new logo of the UDAN Scheme was also unveiled during the UDAN Utsav celebration in Jharsuguda.

The Civil Aviation Minister also interacted with airport directors of other RCS airports and first-time flyers through video conferencing.

While speaking about the success of the Udan scheme over the years, Mr.Scindia has said that the country had only 72 airports since independence while after 2014, the number of airports now stood at 136.

“We have set a target to increase this number by 220 in the next five years which will include helipads and water aerodromes. The number of airlines, routes have also increased significantly over the years due to the success of the Udan scheme,”

During the pandemic all the airport suffers a severe decline of passengers around 62%. meanwhile, Jharsuguda in the same period witnessed a nominal drop of 5%. “This shows the potential of the district and the region at large,” said Mr.Scindia

Mr. Scindia said a greenfield airport would be set up in Puri, while flight operations would start soon from Utkela and Jeypore airstrips. AAI needs 180 Acres of land to start the second phase expansion work of Jharsuguda Airport.

The UDAN Utsav was attended by Sundargarh MP Jual Oram, Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari, state Transport Department Minister Padmanav Behera, MLA Brajrajnagar Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Chairman Airport Authority of India Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Rajiv Bansal, and other senior officials of the ministry and the airport authority of India.

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