Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri K. C. Venugopal informed Rajya Sabha today that in order to connect the remote hill areas of the North Eastern Region the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is developing non-operational airports at Daparizo in Arunachal Pradesh, Tura in Meghalaya and Kamalpur in Tripura for operation of ATR42/ATR72 type of aircrafts. The AAI is also developing civil enclaves at Along, Passighat and Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh and Rupsi in Assam. However, the proposals are subject to the land acquisition by the State Government for these projects. In addition to this, construction of Greenfield airport in Pakyong and operationalisation of Tezu airport in Arunachal Pradesh has also been taken up, which can handle ATR-72 type of aircrafts. Once these airports are developed, they can be used for STOL aircrafts also, subject to commercial viability and demand. The AAI had undertaken a study through Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) for improving the air connectivity in north east which includes air connectivity among state capitals and other important remote locations in the north-east region.
25/04/13 Press Information Bureau
