A perfect example of infrastructural innovation can be seen in country largest state. Rajasthan is getting ready to enable its airport to have a dual usage airstrip. By dual usage we mean that the same runway can be made to run both planes and other road vehicles. Before this normal road traffic vehicles were not allowed to use official runways. Nor was it possible for flights to take off and land on basic roads. As constructive strength of a airstrip is very different from a regular road used by general traffic.
It was Nitin Gadkari, the Union Transport Minister who mentioned Rajasthan’s new and improved airstrip in one of his recent statements from New Delhi. He said, “An airport is being built in Rajasthan would also have national highways’ cement concrete road.”
He also added that “Similar projects are being planned in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and some other border districts as well.” But it is first Rajasthan which will make this new implementation possible and will also be inspiring other states to a greater extent.
The basic idea about how this new airstrip will function was also briefly discussed by Nitin Gadkari last night. The road will usually be used by road traffic but it will be closed for all vehicles when a plane has to take off or land. Once the flight is away from the roadway, the traffic can resume normally.
Gadkari even shared one concern regarding the other states that will have this type of runway after Rajasthan. He said, “In hilly areas like, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and other border districts where there are difficulties, we are working with the Defence authorities and have identified sites for making such airports.”
The government is basically trying to work on different ways to advance air connectivity in the regional areas of the country. It has already been mentioned in the latest Civil Aviation Policy, that a new Regional Connectivity Scheme is included to bring possible concessions for the airline industry. According to this new scheme, airfares would be capped at Rs 25, 00 for 1 hour flight and this will be applicable on both 16 under-served and 394 un-served air routes.
