Assam not ready for Act East Policy

* Nok Air suspends Guwahati-Bangkok flight

* No early resumption of flight services between Guwahati and Dhaka

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Is Assam ready to yield positive results of the Centre’s much-hyped Act East Policy? Going by the recent and present developments in terms of connecting Guwahati to South East Asia, the answer is certainly in the negative.

Close on the heels of suspension of the Guwahati-Dhaka international flight, the Thailand-based low-cost airline Nok Air has decided to suspend its flight operations from Guwahati to Bangkok from Monday (January 20).

Even though NokAir has decided to suspend its services ‘temporarily’ citing ‘operational reasons’, sources said very low passengers’ load has forced the company to give a re-think on the viability of its services and thus suspend operation of its flight between Guwahati and Bangkok. The flight, which takes off twice a week from Guwahati, will remain suspended till April 12.

Rajesh Das, vice president of the Industries and Trade Fair Association told The Sentinel that it is a very unfortunate development due to the lack of effective initiatives by the Assam Government. He added that there was no effort to popularize the Guwahati-Bangkok flight services across the Northeast.

“There should have been efforts to take all the tour operators into confidence and also convince the flyers from the Northeast that it is easier and cheaper to fly from Guwahati to Bangkok. Many flyers from NE still go to Kolkata to catch the Bangkok flight. The flow of passengers has come down in the recent months and the 180-seater flight even had to fly with less than 80 passengers on board,” Das pointed out.

Das, a frequent flyer to Bangkok, said despite creating an exclusive ‘Act East Policy’ department, the Assam Government has not put a single hoarding about the Guwahati-Bangkok flights at the two international airports at Bangkok — namely Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang nor at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI) Airport at Borjhar. “Under such circumstances how can you expect the passengers to be aware of the Guwahati-Bangkok flights?” he posed.

Sources said that the Assam Government’s plan to launch a subsidy programme for air travel between the State’s largest city and destinations in Southeast Asia, has not worked due to the Centre’s lukewarm response to the scheme. Assam had even offered to foot the subsidy bill to the extent of Rs 100 crore annually for three years, as it stands to benefit from the higher economic activity that an international travel hub would bring with it.

Patricia Mukhim, noted writer said that without any inter-region (Guwahati and Bangkok) business, it is difficult for a company to sustain a flight with the hope of only flying tourists to and fro.

“Recently when I flew from Bangkok to Guwahati there were 42 passengers from Jaintia Hills chaperoned by two MLAs from there. The Northeast has not put its act together. The Act East Policy is a major pipe dream sold by the respective governments at the Centre to delude the people of this region. Tall talks to connect NE to South East Asia, has fallen flat,” Mukhim said.

A Guwahati-based entrepreneur said that even on earlier occasions the Guwahati-Bangkok flight could not operate successfully. “Unless there is more trade between the two regions, the tall talks of Dispur and Delhi to connect Assam and NE with South Asia is simply a bombastic talk,” he said.

Wanchuk Machel, a lady passenger who on Saturday flew with NokAir, said the LGBI Airport at Borjhar is not yet ready to receive international guests. “When we arrived at LGBI, the officials there asked my husband to check with all the immigration officers because the system failed to take his finger prints,” she said.

Echoing Machel, another lady flyer to Bangkok, alleged that the Custom officials at LGBI airport are rude as they behave in a disgusting manner. “The NokAir services were otherwise very good. But many passengers do not want to fly from Guwahati due to the rude behaviour of Custom officials,” she alleged.

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