Monday, 21 October 2024
Monday, 21 October 2024
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday the government’s UDAN scheme, an initiative aimed at connecting smaller cities with air travel and making flying more affordable, has transformed India’s aviation sector.
“Today, we mark #8YearsOfUDAN, an initiative that has transformed India’s aviation sector. From an increase in number of airports to more air routes, this scheme has ensured crores of people have access to flying. At the same time, it has had a major impact on boosting trade and commerce and furthering regional growth. In the times to come, we will keep strengthening the aviation sector and focusing on even better connectivity and comfort for the people.” Modi wrote on X.
The government started Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik [the common man should fly] aka UDAN on October 21, 2016 amid a lot of fanfare.
PM Modi had said, “A common man who travels in slippers, should also be seen in the aircraft. This is my dream.”
In short, affordable air travel for the masses. That was the vision.
The scheme, however, has faced questions including from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to the NITI Ayog on performance and relevance.
According to a report in the Press Information Bureau, as of March 2023, a total of “73 unserved /underserved airports, including 9 Heliports & 2 water aerodromes” had been operationalised under the scheme.
But the scheme has incurred an expenditure of Rs 4,071 crore till August 2024, the junior minister of civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in a reply to a parliamentary question by Ambala Congress MP Varun Chaudhry in August 8, 2024.
The civil aviation ministry awarded 870 valid routes, but 579 routes were operationalised. And, airlines discontinued 106 routes in the first three years of the scheme, according to Mohol.
“UDAN is a market driven scheme in which the unserved and underserved airstrips/airports are listed for bidding by airlines to provide connectivity. Bidding rounds are conducted from time to time for covering more destinations,” according to the government.
Per the parliamentary questions and answers of the last session, the government has conducted 12 bidding cycles under five rounds of UDAN so far.
The government has also admitted that many routes couldn’t be operational because of many problems.
For instance, Spicejet was awarded the routes connecting Shivamogga to Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai, but the airline has not started operating due to a shortage of aircraft.
In the state of Tamil Nadu, five airports – Salem, Tanjore, Ramnad, Vellore, and Nevyeli – were identified under the scheme, but only Salem has operational flights.
Some new airports like Pakyong in Sikkim have failed to take off. Some others, like Ayodhya, have seen airlines drop flights because of lack of demand.
The reasons for these delays in operationalising the airports are land unavailability, technical and operational constraints, permit times for new airlines and non-availability of suitable aircraft, aircraft leasing issues, maintenance issues of small aircraft.
A report by the CAG last year said “52% (403) out of 774 awarded routes had not commenced operations. Out of the 371 routes which had commenced operations, only about 30%, or 112 routes, had completed the period of three years. Further, out of these 112 routes, only 54 routes (7% of the 774 awarded routes) could sustain the operations beyond the period of three years. Operations in the rest 58 routes were discontinued after the completion of the concession period.”
A few days before the CAG report, the NITI Ayog had called for proposals to “evaluate the relevance of the scheme as well as assess whether it has improved regional connectivity and made air travel economical”.
Right after the CAG report was published, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said that the common people only got “lies and jumlas (empty promises)”.
