No flights to & from Silchar till almost June, MP Rajdeep Roy feels dispirited, tweets to PMO

May 21: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday announced about a third of operations will be allowed when domestic flights resume next week  beginning 25 May, 2020.  A detailed standard operating procedures (SOP) for the airlines was also released by the ministry. Airlines were asked to adhere to the upper and lower limit of fares prescribed by the ministry during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the official order issued on 21 May by the Civil Aviation Ministry enclosed a list of sectors specifying fares from different locations, but the name of Silchar Airport is conspicuously absent in the list.

Annexure I to VII in the said order specifies sectors falling under various classes, wherein flights would operate to and from Guwahati and Dibrugarh found place in Class A sector. This has given rise to grievance among thousands of passengers from Barak Valley stranded in various parts of India since almost two months. Silchar airport has got much more passenger traffic than Dibrugarh, exclaimed Dimple Chakraborty who got stuck in Mumbai with her ailing mother since 1st week of April. Though the order issued by the ministry on 21 May specified that flights will be increased in a calibrated manner, however, highly placed sources revealed that ministry will include operations in new sectors atleast after 4 to 5 weeks.

Taking to his twitter handle Silchar MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy confirmed this piece of information and wrote, “Disheartened not to find the name of #Silchar in the list of airports for operation from 25th May. Requesting @HardeepSPuri to take it up kindly. Barak valley people waiting since long to get home by flights ! @sarbanandsonwal @PMOIndia @DrJitendraSingh.” Later on speaking to way2barak, Dr. Roy commented that Silchar airport has got a strategic importance as large number of passengers of Meghalaya, Mizoram and even Tripura also prefer to fly to Silchar for taking the land route to their respective states.

Disheartened not to find the name of #Silchar in the list of airports for operation from 25th May. Requesting @HardeepSPuri to take it up kindly. Barak valley people waiting since long to get home by flights !@sarbanandsonwal @PMOIndia @DrJitendraSingh.

— Dr Rajdeep Roy (@drrajdeeproy) May 21, 2020

Though Dr. Roy praised the way the classification of sectors and capping of fares were made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, yet he seemed to be dispirited at the exclusion of flight operations to Silchar. He said, “Silchar airport normally witnesses heavy passenger traffic. Given the present situation of lockdown, thousands of people are waiting to come back by flight. This news has made many people of not only the 3 districts of Barak Valley but also from Meghalaya, Mizoram and even Tripura disheartened. He said, “I have already tweeted tagging the PMO, Civil Aviation Minister, Chief Minister of Assam and DoNER Minister. I have requested them to look into the matter and allow flights to operate to and from Silchar airport. I will also personally take up the matter with them.”

Satish Sen, a businessman from Silchar stranded at present in Gujarat said, “The government allowed flights to operate in Dibrugarh, but unfortunate Silchar was excluded. I failed to understand the logic and judiciousness behind this decision.” So as of now, the fact remains that those persons of the Valley and neighbouring states who are stuck outside the state might have to wait atleast a fortnight or more if the union government does not reconsider their decision of connecting Silchar!

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