pithoragarh

Pithoragarh’s wait for flight continues even after 27 years

The dream of starting a commercial flight from the Nainisaini airstrip could not be completed even after 27 years. After two months of exercise, the dreams of getting public air services for citizens has been shattered due to lack of permission from the Civil Aviation Department.
The airstrip in Nainisaini of Pithoragarh district, which was built near China and Nepal borders, was ready in the year 1991. When it was first trials for routine business flight, the runway was found to be small. It was expanded four years ago at a cost of approximately 65 crores, when the runway was short. After the extension, the runway was built 1600 meters long and 60 meters wide. After the expansion of the airstrip, the state government had tried to start regular flights from January 26, 2016 after landing the trial of nine seater aircraft on this airstrip in November 2015. But, the flight could not start even in 2016.

The state government had all prepared to start the flight from Nainisaini airstrip this year. After receiving the green signal from the civil aviation authorities, the ticket booking counter was installed in the air traffic control, firebird, security system, terminal building. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, on the second day of the successful completion of Trial Landing on October 8, flagged off the nine seater aircraft of Heritage Aviation for Pithoragarh from Dehradun.

Rohit Mathur, CEO of Heritage Aviation, including state Minister of Textiles, Ajay Tamta and former CM Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who arrived in Pithoragarh, also claimed to start regular business flights from October 24. After this claim, the people of Pithoragarh district got hope, but on 24th October, when the airline did not start, their hands once again became desperate. However, Finance Minister Prakash Pant has said that the houses built near the airstrip are causing hindrance and the DGCA has not given permission for the flight operations. They say that it will be disposed of in six months. In such a situation, there is little hope of regular air flight starting now.

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