Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday urged Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to extend the contract with Alliance Air on the Raipur-Jagdalpur-Hyderabad route and to start flights from Bilaspur to major cities in India.
The Chief Minister said in a letter that the air connectivity to Bastar would boost tourism there.
He also underlined the need to commence air services from Bilaspur to major cities of the country.
In the letter, Chief Minister said the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) was started by the government to provide affordable air service to the common man.
Under the RCS scheme, Alliance Air started regular domestic air services on the Raipur-Jagdalpur-Hyderabad sector in September 2020 through 72-seater aircraft.
It operatef successfully for three years but now the contract period has ended and needs to be extended, the Chief Minister said.
Baghel said to improve the air connectivity of Bastar, the state government has given consent for payment of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for the Delhi-Jabalpur-Jagdalpur flight. The Central government has been requested to provide exemption on the VGF payment of the proposed air services, to support the development of a tribal-dominated and culturally rich area like Bastar.
