Manipur urges Centre to curb soaring airfares, seeks more flights for Imphal sector

New Delhi/Imphal, Nov 15 The Manipur government has once again urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to intervene and reduce the steep airfares on routes connected to Imphal and to introduce additional flights to and from Imphal airport, officials said on Saturday.

Manipur Government’s Additional Chief Secretary (Transport, Textiles, Commerce and Industry), Anurag Bajpai, held a crucial meeting with the Secretary, MoCA and explained in detail about the civil aviation challenges being faced by the people of Manipur.

The concerned Joint Secretary and Director of the Ministry attended the meeting.

Bajpai raised the prime issue of exorbitant airfare being charged by various Airlines, including IndiGo, Air India Express and Alliance Air, operating in the Imphal sector, causing extreme hardship to the people. It was conveyed that almost 5 to 6 times, airfare was being charged by them compared to the other seven states of the Northeast region (NER).

The Additional Chief Secretary told the MoCA secretary that the guidelines of the Government of India for capping of airfare are not being followed by the airline authorities in the Imphal sector. It was also informed that the number of aircraft has also been reduced by all the operational airlines from October in the Imphal sector.

Bajpai highlighted during the meeting that Alliance Air has stopped services in certain extremely essential sectors -- Imphal-Silchar-Imphal; Imphal-Aizawl-Imphal; and Imphal-Dibrugarh-Imphal. Keeping in view the huge public demand, he urged the Secretary, MoCA, to advise Alliance Air to revive them immediately. It was also requested to consider them for coverage under RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme-UdeDeshkaAamNaagrik (RCS-UDAN) as earlier.

The Additional Chief Secretary raised the point of an urgent need to start international service from Imphal to Bangkok (both Passenger and Cargo) at least once or twice a week to start with, as it is in high demand from Industry associations and the general public to promote exports.

He also suggested that, keeping in view the available slots, Akasa Air and Druk Air may also be considered to start their services in the Imphal sector. In order to meet the huge inter-district demand for air services, the senior Manipur government official requested the MoCA to advise helicopter companies to increase the number of copters.

At present, both companies -- Pawan Hans and GVHL -- are operating only one copter. Further, it was also conveyed that Pawan Hans charges more than GVHL for the same sortie from passengers, which is against the agreement with MoCA under RCS-UDAAN.

Bajpai also invited the attention of the Secretary, MoCA, to the expeditious consideration of the long-pending request of the Manipur Government for renaming Imphal International Airport as Bir Tikendrajit International Airport.

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