Raipur, Sep 14 (Inditop.com) The Chhattisgarh government has sought proposals from private airlines to fly small planes to small industrial towns, plus towns in Maoist-hit parts of the state.
The civil aviation department of the state government has asked private airlines to submit proposals by the end of the month. It wants to connect state capital Raipur to industrial towns Korba and Raigarh, other towns like Bilaspur and Jashpur, plus two towns in the Maoist-hit belt — Jagdalpur in Bastar district and Ambikapur in Surguja district.
An official said the civil aviation department intends to begin the operations by October on two routes — Raipur-Bilaspur-Korba-Raigarh-Jashpur-Ambikapur and Raipur-Jagdalpur. He said air strips are already available in these towns for small planes.
The Chhattisgarh government had sought proposals in 2007 also but the plans failed to take off as airlines sought loss-compensation in case of few passengers. Now the state government has offered to compensate them.
The official expected proposed flight services to be successful as hundreds of businessmen travel from Raipur to industrial towns of Korba and Raigarh every day. The businessmen based in the state capital waste at least six hours to beat heavy road traffic day after day, he added.
Korba, 246 km north of Raipur, has several thermal power plants and Raigarh, 243 km northeast, has dozens of steel and sponge iron units.
