Union Minister of Commerce, Industries and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu recently tweeted that he had met Ankur Gupta, a Ward Commissioner of Jorhat Municipal Board and had discussions on issues brought to his notice regarding extension of airport at Jorhat in Assam and operation of flights.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Prabhu also had directed the officials concerned of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to look into the matter.
Gupta had apprised the Union minister about the importance of Jorhat and that only one flight is operated from here.
In his proposal, Gupta had said that Jorhat was also important from the point of view of education, research, and commerce.
The place had several educational institutes like the Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat Engineering College, Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, Prince of Wales Institute of Engineering and Technology, research institutes like Tocklai Tea Research Institute, North East Institute of Science and Technology, Rain Forest Research Institute and Central Muga Eri Research and Training Institute.
Moreover, there is an Army base and oil giants like ONGC and Oil India Limited have operations in this district. There are also more than 300 tea gardens which are of commercial importance.
Gupta had said that there should be flights to Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Bangalore from Jorhat airport whereas there was only one flight to Kolkata operating on a daily basis.
He had also informed that the Jorhat airport was under the control of the Indian Air Force and that the flight service should be extended and the extended portion be under the Civil Aviation Ministry.