The Orissa government will soon place a request before the Union ministry of civil aviation for extending air connectivity to at least two more destinations in the state apart from Bhubaneswar.
The state government is ready to provide tax concessions to licensed operators who would provide air connectivity to places like Jharsuguda and Rourkela.
Since Orissa has the potential and requirement for enhanced air connectivity owing to rapid industrialization and bustling economic activity, the state government is prepared to offer the necessary tax concessions to the willing operators.
The decision to have air connectivity in at least two more strategic locations in the state was taken at a meeting on 'Air Connectivity' held under the chairmanship of the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.
U N Behera, special secretary (general administration), Jugal Mohapatra, principal secretary (finance), C J Venugopal, chairman and managing director of Industrial Infrastructure and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) and T Ao, director (tourism) were present on the occasion.
At the meeting, the Chief Secretary emphasized on enhancing air connectivity for promotion of tourism. He instructed the director (tourism) to develop specific projects for popularizing and marketing of Buddhist tourist spots in the state. The possibility of connecting Varanasi with Bhubaneswar was also discussed at the meeting.
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It may be noted that non-scheduled air transport operations were introduced between Bhubaneswar and Ganjam.
These operations are expected to boost inbound leisure traffic to the beach resort town of Gopalpur besides proving useful for the corporate travelers.
The state government was also planning to develop the existing airport in the city into an international airport and also upgrade 12 airstrips into airports.