Whether through road, railways or airways, Government’s commitment to increase connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir through various measures is getting percolated on the ground and the latest in it is the decision to build a civil enclave in Jammu Airport which so far remained confined to only projections and probabilities . At the same time, the one already built in Srinagar is bound to be expanded thrice as much so as to have it stretched to 60000 square metres which will cost Rs.1500 crore. It needs to be noted that building a civil enclave in Jammu Airport area was long overdue to promote commerce and trade in the province in the sense that commercial flights can operate and load and unload cargo as also cater to seating and other facilities to more passengers especially during peak hours.
Jammu Airport having certain constraints especially in terms of area as also the present location , however, has intermittently been improved especially expanding the runway to handle more flights including airbuses, added to that landing and taking off during night hours of flights for different destinations has led to the increase in number of flights and that of passengers. Added to that, the civil enclave estimated to be built at a cost of Rs.861 crore will prove advantageous in various ways at Jammu Airport. Civil Aviation is gaining more importance in terms of the factors of fast connectivity , saving of time , propensity to spend as on its affordable cost , associated comforts and last but not least the critical area of it being more safe and secure. Besides, with the increase in air traffic, it provides a huge potential of employment which factor is very important for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir to explore and harness.
Civil Aviation sector in the country is undergoing a tremendous phase of turnaround in various forms like a massive increase in the number of Airports from 74 in 2014 to 141 as on date with an ambitious target of increasing the same to 200 in the next few years while most of the others are modernised , expanded and more facilities added. Why should, therefore, Jammu and Kashmir be not a part of such development and thus people of the UT and the tourists provided more facilities and opportunities of air connectivity besides exploring possibilities to modernise and expand the capacity of Jammu Airport .
One thing which is notable in promoting air connectivity is how to reach people in remotest / mountainous or ”difficult ” areas and how to ensure accessibility to air connectivity by them especially in emergencies is the stress laid by the Government on promoting and expanding helicopter services across Jammu and Kashmir. The theme of the Heli India Summit , the 4th in a row – being “Helicopters for the last Mile Connectivity” – which was inaugurated at Srinagar recently by the Union Civil Aviation Minister reconfirming the Government’s resolve to have such helicopter services availed of by the people to forget the difficulties and hardships faced in its absence .
Needless to add, such summits are important to be held periodically in the sense to also keep reviewing the existing position of Airports in handling the air traffic and providing facilities of international standards to the passengers in addition to how in matters of medical outreach and fast access to trauma care services to more people living in not only hilly and inaccessible areas but even the wider population across the country, fast and affordable helicopter services could be provided. .It was felt that even if such facilities were made available in more measure , still the vital cost factor would be a hindrance as no service provider would operate helicopter-services unless economically viable and profitable to them.
In this connection, the decision of the UT Government to provide relief to great extent in terms of operative costs is reduction of VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel from a ”high” of 26.5 percent to a nominal one percent is laudable. That was going to set a ”new dawn ”for air connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation put it. It is to be noted further that Jammu and Kashmir is the only one among all States/ UTs to provide such a relief to service operators in the country which has resulted an increase of 360 percent in refuelling . That means a big leap taken in ensuring added air connectivity to the region especially in helicopter services to our remote / hilly areas and only like that coupled with other necessary measures shall such summits as the one under reference project air connectivity in its totality and reality.
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