ITANAGAR, Sept 4: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said the last decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought historic transformation to the Northeast, with connectivity and development initiatives reaching even the remotest villages of Arunachal Pradesh.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the third North-East Aviation Summit and the North-Eastern Regional Ministers’ Conference on Civil Aviation here, Khandu thanked Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and the ministry for “providing a vital platform for dialogue and policy shaping” in the sector.
“The country has transformed in civil aviation in the last decade. Similarly, when you talk about development of the Northeast, ten years back it was a different history. Today, it has totally changed. This whole credit goes to our prime minister,” Khandu said.
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He recalled Modi’s 2014 directive that “India will only move forward when the Northeast moves forward”, noting that since then, Union ministers have made regular trips to the region, with the prime minister himself making over 60 visits.
The CM said Modi is scheduled to visit Guwahati on September 13 and Itanagar on September 22.
The chief minister underlined Arunachal’s progress in connectivity, citing highways, digital networks, railways, and air links.
“We have built the Hollongi Greenfield Airport in a record three years, along with Pasighat, Tezu, and Ziro airports, besides developing eight advanced landing grounds. Under the UDAN scheme, these airports are now connected, giving Arunachal a success story it never had before,” he said.
Khandu urged the civil aviation ministry to craft a Northeast-specific policy under the renewed UDAN scheme to address challenges of terrain, weather, and runway limitations.
He suggested developing Guwahati as a regional hub with smaller airports like Tezu, Ziro, Mechuka, Vijaynagar, Silchar, and Ruksin functioning as spokes.
The chief minister also recommended higher viability gap funding (VGF) for airlines in the region, implementation of Required Navigation Performance (RNP) for safer flights, promotion of short take-off and landing (STOL) services, and the creation of a dedicated helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) network.
“Time is money, and to save time, nothing is like civil aviation. If we work as a team, we can achieve the dream of a developed Northeast and a developed India,” Khandu asserted.
The event was attended by ministers from Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram, officials of the civil aviation ministry, Airports Authority of India (AAI), DGCA, and industry representatives. (PTI)
