Centre sanctions Rs 45 crore for Amarda Road airstrip development, scheduled flights to start soon    

Amarda Road airstrip in Mayurbhanj has been identified for development for operation of flights under the UDAN scheme, informed Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Rs 45 crore has also been sanctioned for development of the airstrip as part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under UDAN. 

Scindia revealed this in a letter while replying to MP Pratap Sarangi's request made on August 2.

Scindia wrote, “Amarda Road airstrip is available in the list of unserved airports in UDAN Document. Under UDAN 4.2, it has been identified for development for the operation of RCS flights. The route Bhubaneswar-Amarda-Bhubaneswar has been awarded to Air Taxi for the operations.”

“An amount of INR 45 Crores has been sanctioned for the development of the Amarda airstrip under the UDAN scheme. It has been informed by the Government of Odisha that development work at the airstrip will be taken up once the land is handed over by the Ministry of Defence to the State. On the readiness of the Airport, the Selected Airline Operator may start RCS flight operations from/to Amarda,” Scindia's letter added.

It is pertinent to mention here that after getting the nod from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Odisha’s Utkela airport in the tribal-dominated district of Kalahandi welcomed its first flight from Bhubaneswar on Aug 31 (Thursday).
Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the flight services virtually from Delhi while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the flight services from Bhubaneswar airport.