Travelling woes
As the Jammu-Srinagar national highway is witnessing all sorts of trouble owing to the rough terrain and crumbling mountains, travel to and fro Kashmir has become a big challenge. Not only has the bad shape of highway meant less usage by tourists but trade and other operations have taken a hit as well.
People have been over the past few years now opting to travel using the air transport but since a limited number of flights are operating on the Srinagar circuit, travel has become all the more expensive and out of bounds for a common man.
However, all this is scheduled to witness a change as the Union Defence Ministry has approved operation of civilian flights from Awantipora airfield, a strategically important airbase managed by Indian Air Force in southern Kashmir.
Kashmir is connected to the rest of the world by one civilian airport that has limited aircraft space besides facing constraints of offering space for the passengers as well.
The Srinagar Airport has been facing space constraints and inadequate parking area for aircraft landings and take off. The airport is under direct operational control of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which controls its air traffic and landing strip and also the facilities of fire-fighting and crash activities, apart from the airspace.
The terminal building, where the passengers check-in and check-out, and the apron area, where an aircraft is parked, are however controlled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Now that the defence ministry has agreed in principle its approval for civil flights operations from Awantipora airfield under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) it will provide a boost to the mobility of the people and tourists alike to Kashmir.
UDAN-RCS, UDAN meaning Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik, is a regional airport development and Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of letting the common citizen of the country fly, aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and states of India.
UDAN scheme will add to this number by expediting the development and operationalisation of country’s potential-target of nearly 425 unserved, underserved, and mostly underdeveloped regional airports with regular scheduled flights.
Since Kashmir is a tourist destination and land-locked, there is a growing demand for an alternative civilian airport.
Awantipora Air Force Station of the Indian Air Force (IAF) is located in Awantipora, about 5 km from Pulwama town, and is used exclusively for defence purposes.
However, the proposal to allow civilian flights to operate from here would pave way for operation of second airport for civilians in Kashmir. This will mean increased mobility and less dependence on the lone airport that is already reeling under heavy passenger rush.
