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Thursday, 7 August 2014

Remote airstrips to boost tourism

New Delhi: Home minister Rajnath Singh is all set to take security and tourism hand in hand to make inroads for boosting economy and development in the country. The new proposal in the works is to throw open remote airstrips in the country for tourism purposes. Top sources disclosed a move is afoot to make the non-operational airstrips active to enable civil operations. As a first step, the security aspect of the move has emerged as the prime concern of the home ministry. On Wednesday, the Union home ministry will hold consultations with the ministry of tourism, among other stakeholders, to take forward the new idea.

Many forgotten, abandoned or partially used airstrips exist in states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan, among others . Sources pointed out that the unutilised airstrips in places like Kanpur, Meerut or Faizabad can be developed as no-frills airports and at the same time it will go a long way in boosting tourist inflow and bring along with it development of the backward regions in several states.
Wednesday’s meet is likely to take stock of the tourist inflow to the places where the airstrips are located, the development and security related aspects and the kind of aircraft that can take operate from these strips,” an official said.
Officials in the security agencies said that the move will also allay their concerns of the airstrips being misused by anti-national elements or even terrorist elements.
Read news in full 06/08/14 Namrata Biji Ahuja/Asian Age

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