DW BUREAU / shimla Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while inaugurating the Heliport at Rampur today said that in a major initiative to attract tourists to the unexplored areas, the State Government was determined to develop a network of heliports to improve air connectivity and to give boost to tourism in Himachal Pradesh. Jai Ram Thakur said that through the relentless efforts for providing helicopter services under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, the State Government has developed new heliports. He said that in the state work of three heliports, Shimla heliport in State capital near Sanjauli bye pass road, at Baddi in Solan district and at Rampur has been completed and ready for helicopter service operations. In addition, heliport at Kangnidhar (Mandi) was near completion and another heliport was being developed at Manali (DGRE, SASE) Chief Minister said the newly constructed heliport at Rampur in District Shimla was the second among five heliports being developed and inaugurated under UDAN scheme of Govt. of India. The Rampur Heliport has been built with a cost of Rs. 3.40 crore and the administrative approval, expenditure sanction and technical sanction is for Rs. 7.38 crore which includes development construction cost and procurement of all equipment and fire tenders etc., which were being done by M/s Pawan Hans Ltd., he added. The Chief Minister said that the work of development of Rampur heliport was started in the year 2020 and was completed in August, 2022 in a record time under RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) UDAN-II sanctioned by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India having total area of 12,130 square meters. He said that this heliport has modern facilities like CCTV Security installation, VIP lounge, parking, OPS and Fire Station, security hut, UG tank, watch tower, perimeter fencing illumination, reception counter, heliport manager office, ticket counter etc. Chief Minister said the flight services in Shimla- Rampur-Shimla route were started in December 2021 and flights were operating thrice a week. At present, per passenger the one way fare on this route was Rs. 3275, he added. Jai Ram Thakur said that recently the State Government has also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India to extend the helicopter service for connecting Reckong Peo in District Kinnaur and Chamba under UDAN scheme to provide connectivity to the remote tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh. Chief Minister said that at present, there were 64 helipads and 38 new helipads were being developed by the State Government. He said that Heliports and Helipads would prove beneficial in near future in terms of tourism, connectivity and emergency situations. With the development of Heliports in the State, it will also help to facilitate the local inhabitants besides tourists and would also be used in case of medical emergency, said Chief Minister. He said that the State Government has given top priority for Tourism & Civil Aviation sector and more emphasis was being laid on air connectivity to connect main tourist destinations in the State. Jai Ram Thakur said that in addition to this, flights on Delhi-Shimla-Delhi route were being restored as Alliance Air has procured a new Aircraft ATR-42-600 . (editor@dailyworld.in)