Bhubaneswar: With an aim to ensure adequate security arrangements at the five unreserved airstrips selected under Central government’s ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik’ (UDAN) scheme, Odisha government is set to conduct a survey of the airstrips soon, informed DGP RP Sharma today.
A State level Coordination and Monitoring Committee meeting chaired by Chief Secretary AP Padhi took the decision to conduct a survey to be undertaken jointly by Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCA) and Security and Odisha Police.
While briefing mediapersons, DGP Sharma who was also present in the meeting, informed that personnel from OSAP, RRB and OISF will be deployed to strengthen the security at the airports.
“A joint survey of Odisha police and BCA will be carried out to ensure proper security arrangements at the airstrips. The survey team will be given orientation training. We are working on the details”, said DGP Sharma.
Meanwhile, the Jharsuguda airstrip is scheduled to be converted into a full-fledged airport and become operational under the UDAN scheme by October 2017.
“By October the airstrip at Jharsuguda will be operational but the airstrips of Utkela and Jeypore will require some more months as they are still at the development phase. The total cost of development of Utkela and Jeypore airstrips is expected to be around Rs 50 crore,” informed, AP Padhi.