Govt moves to form IMG for emergency landing along NHs

An inter-ministerial panel is being constituted to achieve the objective of setting up emergency landing facilities along all major national highway corridors, the government said today.
"It has been decided to constitute an inter-ministerial coordination group (IMG) of the ministry (MoRTH), Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force officials for achieving the objectives (emergency landing). The IMG is being constituted," Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.
He said MoRTH is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways.
"Discussions are being held on necessity for setting up emergency landing facilities along major NH corridors for fixed wing aircraft between this ministry, Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force," the minister said.

Last month, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had told PTI that there are proposals to develop highway stretches in such a fashion that they may double up as airstrips which will provide connectivity in difficult places.
The transport ministry is shortly going to convene a meeting with the defence ministry to firm up the proposal.

According to an official, 22 stretches have been identified in various parts of the country for the same.
In August, Gadkari had spoken about construction of such an airport in Rajasthan and said similar projects were being planned in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and some other border districts.

In Rajasthan, such an airport could serve as an airstrip for landing and take-off when it is closed and traffic can be restored later.
The government is working on ways to boost regional air connectivity in the country. In the new civil aviation policy, the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) has been mooted that provides for various concessions to airlines.
Under the scheme, air ticket prices will be capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights on unserved and under-served routes.
There are 394 unserved and 16 under-served airports in the country.
As part of RCS, the government plans to provide a viability gap funding, which will be financed through the regional connectivity fund (RCF).