GUWAHATI, April 2 - Playing a crucial role in ferrying cargo of essential items and medical equipment during this hour of crisis, the airports in the north-eastern region have operationalised watch hours at Guwahati, Agartala, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Silchar, Shillong, Dimapur, Tezpur, Lilabari and other places as and when required.
Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation in her message to the stakeholders, has said that to address the seamless movement of air cargo, a high level committee has been constituted with secretaries.
Moving medicine/accessories in small quantities to various places through commercial freighters is becoming difficult. Existing freighters are mostly covering trunk routes. �Same may be the case for states. Above referred committee is empowered to hire dedicated charters for the air cargo purpose. All states are requested to put up their specific request in template including air cargo details, the place of dispatch and destination, responsible agency and coordinates at origin including phone, email etc., responsible agency and coordinates at destination, responsible officer from government agency, timeline and any additional info,� she added.
Sanjeev Jindal, Regional Executive Director (RED), AAI in his address to the stakeholders, said that all NE airports are open in one general shift with minimum operational staff and officers from ATC, airport operations, fire, CNS, etc., to support cargo movements to help people and agencies in the region.
�If required the airports are also ready to extend the watch hours at these airports and can be made available on a call for any emergency,� he said.
Earlier, AAI North East HQ at the RED�s initiative, donated Rs 50 lakh to the Government of Assam and Rs 10 lakh each to the rest of the states in the NE region to fight against coronavirus.
Cargo flight and helicopter services are expected to cover the entire NE region and adjacent areas as per requirements raised by the state governments.
