Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia, on Monday, said that a civil enclave is being built in Jammu at a cost of Rs 861 crore and Srinagar’s existing terminal will be expanded from 20,000 square meters to 60,000 square meters at a cost of Rs 1500 crore.

Scindia said this while inaugurating 4th Heli-India Summit 2022 which is themed on ‘Helicopters for Last Mile Connectivity,’ at Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre, Srinagar, in the presence of Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha.

He said that the decrease in value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) from 26.5 per cent to one per cent by J&K government has set a new dawn for air connectivity in the Union Territory with 360 per cent increase in refuelling, thus increasing the air connectivity to Jammu and Kashmir.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing a revolution in the civil aviation sector in India from 2014 onwards, Scindia said that from 1947 to 2014, the country had only 74 airports but now the number has increased to 141, with 67 added in the last seven years which shows the pace of progress in the civil aviation sector.

Scindia said that civil aviation has now become the need of the hour not only for India but for humankind across the world as it always brings with it two important multipliers, the economic multiplier and the employment multiplier.

“The sector has a huge impact with economic multiplier of 3.1 and employment multiplier of 6,” he said, adding that helicopters have multifarious roles, providing urban connectivity which is no more an elitist prerogative in India but is based on PM Modi’s vision ‘Sab Ude, Sab Jude.’

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that the decision taken by J&K UT government to decrease VAT on ATF from 26.5 percent to one percent has increased air connectivity to J&K with more than 100 flights being operated from J&K now.

The summit was attended by among others Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Rajiv Bansal, Principal Secretary, Department of Civil Aviation, J&K, Alok Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee and Remi Maillard, Chairman, FICCI Civil Aviation Committee and President and MD, Airbus India.