The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of Maharashtra and Airports Authority of India (AAI) have signed a tri-partite MoU, commencing the collaborative process of coming together for the launch of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). The MoU was signed in Mumbai in the presence of Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and the Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis. With this development, the Maharashtra Government has formally agreed to provide the concessions required from the state governments in the RCS, thereby becoming the first state in the country to do so. The agreement was signed by chairman of AAI, principal secretary of civil aviation (Maharashtra) and joint secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Raju and Fadnavis discussed various other aviation related issues in Maharashtra at length. The meeting was attended by R N Choubey, secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Swadheen Kshatriya, chief cecretary of the state and other officials. Early operationlisation of several available airports and airstrips in the state (Shirdi, Kolhapur, Nasik, Sholapur etc) were also figured prominently in the discussions.
Raju undertook an aerial survey of the proposed airport site for Navi Mumbai and took a status briefing from the concerned officers. He laid emphasis on timely completion of the project and conveyed that this can be achieved only if timelines for all sub-activities are adhered to. Raju conveyed that he will be undertaking similar visits to several other states across the country to promote the RCS and discuss other related issues in the states. He expressed hope that several airports in the state will see activity as flights take off from these places as a part of the scheme.
