By Smita Gupta
Improving connectivity only way to ensure real integration: Union Minister for North-East
– PHOTOS: KAMAL NARANG / RITU RAJ KONWAR 
CONNECTING INDIA: Union Minister for Development of North-East Region Bijoy Krishna Handique reflecting on new policy options. At right, the fruits of connectivity: tourists on an outing inside Assam's Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, 50 km from Guwahati.
New Delhi, Jun 25 : Smaller airports, smaller aircraft, intra-regional air connectivity and more frequent flights in and out of this geographically difficult region — apart from improving safety standards — could be the answer to ending the physical exclusion of the North-East, according to Union Minister for Development of the North-East Region (DoNER) Bijoy Krishna Handique.
“Our outlook is limited by geography,” said Mr. Handique in an exclusive interview. “We need to break the shell of isolation within which the people of the North-East live, separating them from mainland India. We need to connect important towns in the interior with each other, and the major towns with the rest of the country. Improving connectivity is the only way to promote real integration.”
It is to this end that the Union DoNER Ministry has produced a new policy document on civil aviation titled “Multi-utility aviation in the North-Eastern Region — An alternative innovative model for hastening development”, which Mr. Handique discussed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently. “Dr. Singh said the Prime Minister's Office would examine the document,” said the Minister.
Making a pitch for his new policy, Mr. Handique stressed: “We need a well-defined North-Eastern perspective in the civil aviation policy to put air connectivity on the fast track. It is our lifeline.”
Indeed, in the wake of the tragic helicopter crash last month in which Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was killed, Mr. Handique also met Union Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi to discuss his ministry's proposal for a different approach to civil aviation for the North-East. In the wake of that discussion, the Civil Aviation Ministry agreed in principle to develop the Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal and Dibrugarh airports as regional hubs (Level 1).
Mr. Handique said Mr. Ravi, who had been very “sympathetic”, has agreed to travel to the North-East next month to lay the foundation in Guwahati for the first of the four regional hubs. Developing Guwahati as a regional hub has been a three-decade-old demand, he added.
If the DoNER Ministry's plan is accepted, then the regional hubs, which would connect the North-East to the rest of the country, would in turn be linked to 20 “spokes” (Level 2) across all seven North-Eastern sister-States and Sikkim. Currently there are 20 such airfields in addition to the four regional hubs; sadly, only seven are operational, while the remaining 13 have fallen into disuse, but could be easily upgraded.
Once the “spokes” are activated, the DoNER Ministry would like 59 of the 86 districts not serviced by Level 1 and 2 services or three proposed greenfield airports to have permanent helipads.
Indeed, Mr. Handique, referring to the suspension of Pawan Hans services following the death of Mr. Khandu, said: “Given the difficult terrain in the North-East, helicopter services must be restored. I don't mind even Pawan Hans, provided the safety auditing is done. But connectivity is a must.”
Indeed, his policy document points out that the “chicken neck” that connects the North-East with mainland India only connects two States, Assam and Sikkim, and that this narrow strip of land is choked not just by a high-density population but by roads, rail lines, cables, oil pipelines and power transmission lines. “Therefore, inclusiveness of the North-Eastern region with the rest of India is physically possible only through air services.”
Thanks to the Open Sky policy of the 1990s, the commercial aspect of air services to the North-East gained ground: this meant private airlines did not see air services to the region as financially viable; Air India did provide four twin-engine turbo prop ATRs (subsidised by DoNER) to the North-East, but even this was “not satisfactory,” points out Mr. Handique.
The North-Eastern States, hampered by difficult terrain, economic backwardness and poor connectivity, rarely impinge on the national consciousness unless separatism raises its head. According to the Minister, it's time this less than splendid isolation ends.
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