After a gap of nearly nine years, Ballari is back on the air map, with the re-introduction of flight services under the Union government’s regional connectivity scheme (RCS), UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), that enables the common man to fly at affordable rates from September 21.
As per the RCS, a private flight operator has come forward to introduce daily flight services, to begin with, between Hyderabad and Vidyanagar (JSW airport) at Toranagal.
Enquiries revealed that as per the proposed schedule, a 72-seater flight departs at 6.00 a.m. from Hyderabad and lands at 7.05 a.m. at Vidyanagar. On the return journey, the flight leaves Vidyanagar at 7.30 a.m. and reaches Hyderabad at 8.35 a.m. The service provider has plans to extend the air services to other cities depending on the demand.
Boost to tourism
The introduction of flight services is expected to give a boost to the tourism and economic growth of the district. For, Hampi, the world heritage site, the Tungabhadra dam, the natural beauty of Sandur, which is a valley within a valley, Daroji Bear Sanctuary, the only and the largest such sanctuary in Asia, the neo-lithic Sangankal site, which was the largest village settlement in South India 5,000 years ago, are among other tourist attractions located within 30 km radius from the airport.
Apart from this, Ballari district is also known for economic activities owing to the availability of iron-rich quality ore, several steel plants, including the multi-crore integrated steel plant set up by JSW Steel, cement factories, sponge iron units among other industries established here.
Inconsistency
It may be mentioned here that flight services to Ballari were not new but the services introduced were not consistent. Back in the 1990s, Vayudoot services was introduced but withdrawn after sometime. Later, after JSW Steel established a well-equipped airport at Vidyanagar and threw it open for commercial operations, flight services were reintroduced by Air Deccan. Initially, the services were twice a week, and later reduced to once a week. For reasons known to the company, they were stopped. Then Kingfisher Airlines came forward to operate flights between Bengaluru, Vidyanagar and Goa. Again these were stopped soon, perhaps for want of patronage.
“The bookings for Vidyanagar-Hyderabad have been very encouraging, As of now around 250 people have booked their seats,” Deepak of Matrix Holidays, the authorised booking agent, told The Hindu.
