Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Aerial sorties planned during puskharams

By R.Balaji

VIJAYAWADA, JUNE 15. The Tourism department is planning to hire chartered flights to offer aerial sorties for tourists thronging the city during the 12-day Krishna pushkarams.

After plans to induct a dozen luxury coaches in its fleet for sight-seeing during the pushkarams, the Tourism officials are now contemplating to give an opportunity to the visitors to have a panoramic aerial view of the city and its surroundings. According to official sources, the Department is planning to operate a few special aircrafts across the skies in the city during the festival. The move to provide aerial sight-seeing mainly intended for the devotees and tourists not only from the State but also from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and other places. The idea was floated by the Higher Education Minister, Pinamaneni Venkateswara Rao, at a meeting with officials recently. The Minister who hails from the district asked the officials to prepare the necessary blueprint for the proposal. When contacted by The Hindu , the Tourism Department Additional Secretary, A. Srikanth, said that modalities for the proposal were still being worked out and a decision was likely to be taken in the next couple of days. And, if the proposal becomes a reality, the department would have to negotiate with private airlines for undertaking the exercise. Since hiring aircrafts involves a huge expenditure, various options were being explored to reduce the expenditure on the part of the pilgrims who wish to enjoy the aerial sorties.

Accordingly, the department initially mooted a proposal for hiring smaller aircraft like the 18-seater Dornier aircraft for the purpose. However, the idea was opposed by some of the officials on the ground that it would entail an expenditure of about Rs 1.3 lakh on rent for every one hour which may prove too costly for the passengers. In other words, each passenger may have to shell out about Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 8,000 for enjoying the one hour jaunt. Another option before the department was to ask the private airlines to operate smaller aircraft with less than 50 seats capacity.

Operating such small aircraft may work out to be cheaper as the airlines had been exempted from paying landing charges and the aviation turbine fuel would also be provided to them at subsidised rates by the Civil Aviation Ministry. "The private airlines can be prevailed upon to pass on the benefits to the pilgrims visiting the city,'' Mr. Srikanth said.

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