Dibrugarh: Under the government's UDAN 4.0 scheme, the people from Upper Assam's Dibrugarh will be able to reach Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, within hours, as the two places will be connected by aircraft.
This was officially announced by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) on its Twitter handle on Friday. "UDAN 4.0 brings regions close, destinations closer! The connectivity between Dibrugarh, an emerging industrial hub of North East India, and Shillong, a fast emerging education hub for the entire North East region, will open new horizons for these two places," the tweet read.
It needs mention here that the Union aviation ministry launched the 4th round of UDAN in December 2019 with a special focus on Northeastern, hilly states, and islands.
Several of these new routes under UDAN 4 are in line with the Act East Policy of the Central government.
Since its inception, the Aviation Ministry has operationalized 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and three heliports.
The fourth round of bidding under the UDAN commenced on December 3 last year.
The stated goal of the UDAN scheme is to connect "unserved and underserved airports as well as make flying more affordable."
Under the UDAN scheme, Meghalaya's capital city will have flights to 7 Northeast cities and towns including Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapur, Imphal, Pasighat, Dibrugarh and Silchar.
It needs mention here that the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday (September 21) said 78 new routes have been identified and approved under Phase 1 of UDAN 4.0 and that 100 airports/heliports/water aerodromes will be developed by 2024 under RCS UDAN.
Flights are being re-introduced in a graded manner after the extended period of lockdown triggered by the novel coronavirus. Several SOPs are in place at the airports as preventive measures again the COVID.