Shillong,March 15: The state government has spent over Rs 2 crore for 16 flights to Delhi from Shillong operated by Fly Big.
During the question hour, the oppostion AITC member HM Shangpliang pointed out that the Shillong-Delhi flight is a failure.
Advertisement
Earlier, the question on the matter was put forward by Mohendro Rapsang (Congress).
Shangpliang said as per the MoU, the government is paying over Rs 12 lakh per trip and the inability of FlyBig to operate the flight proved that the Shillong-Delhi flight failed.
However, in response, the chief minister Conrad Sangma said this cannot be told as failure but added that there are challenges.
Conrad said the government will examine the entire process if FlyBig delays resuming the Delhi-Shillong-Delhi flight.
Transport Minister Dasakhiatbha Lamare said time till this month was given to FlyBig to get back to the state government.
The chief minister said FlyBig has got aircraft now but due to some technical clearances from the Ministry, the entire process is pending. “We hope that we will see somekind of movement happening in the next few weeks. If that is not happening we will examine the entire process and see what will be the next step to go forward,” Conrad said. Earlier, a showcause notice was issued to FlyBig and it requested time till March to resume services.
The website of FlyBig shows latest flight timing though Shillong-Delhi flight is non-functional
Stating the reasons for Shillong-Delhi flight being not operational, Lamare said the FlyBig was chartering a Spicejet for the Delhi-Shillong-Delhi flight since its launch in December, 2020.
However, with the constraint of the 2nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spicejet was no longer able to provide its aircraft to FlyBig on charter leading to a disruption in the service.
He said to resume service, Flybig looked at securing of an aircraft on dry lease but, however, due to the pandemic situation this was not possible leading to a further delay in resuming the Delhi-Shillong-Delhi flight
Baljek airport to be expanded
The chief minister said the land acquisition process is on for expansion of the runway of the Baljek airport.
“We do not have the challenge like we have here in Shillong where there are huge mountains which block the instrument landing system operation which leads to the inability of larger flights landing,” the chief minister said.
Conrad said the government is working to have 2.2 km plus runway at the Baljek Airport.
“Therefore, we are hopeful that things will move much faster,” he added.
A supplementary question was raised by Lazarus Sangma (AITC) in this regard.
