RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday urged Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to extend the contract period with Alliance Air for air service on Raipur-Jagdalpur-Hyderabad air route. He also sought to start air service from Bilaspur Airport to major cities of the country.

Baghel in the letter to the union minister requested to resume the closed air services en route Bilaspur-Indore-Bilaspur and Bilaspur-Bhopal-Bilaspur.

The letter states that the air connectivity has boosted tourism in Bastar, making the place more prominent on the tourism map of the country.

With the commencement of domestic air service from Jagdalpur and Bilaspur airports in Chhattisgarh, cheap domestic air facilities will be available to the people of the state. Besides the development of the airport for operation of air services, the state government is committed to ensure timely payment of Viability Gap Funding prescribed for RCS air services under the scheme, the letter states.

Under the RCS scheme, Alliance Air Company started the regular domestic air services in Raipur-Jagdalpur-Hyderabad sector in September 2020 through their 72-seater aircraft, which continued to operate successfully for 03 years. The contract will come to an end in September 2023. Thus, suspension of the Raipur-Jagdalpur-Hyderabad RCS flight service. However,  the aviation service provider- Alliance Air Company was requested to extend the Delhi-Jabalpur air service operated by them to Jagdalpur. To which the company has agreed on the condition that the VGF will be paid in advance. It is an ad hoc basis arrangement, which will be suspended in case the company receives any other profitable RCS airway/sector proposal.

State government has initiated steps to develop Bilaspur Airport in the 4C-IFR category. The lighting work is in progress. Already the proposal for commencement of air services from Bilaspur to other major cities of the country and also for resumption of the Bilaspur-Indore-Bilaspur and the Bilaspur-Bhopal-Bilaspur air services have been sent.

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, CM’s letter stated.