Umroi airport upgradation

Regional air connectivity in the mountainous North-east is set to get a boost with Umroi Airport near Shillong undergoing a massive infrastructure upgrade under the Centre’s UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme. Once completed, the facilities will enable operation of narrow-body jet aircraft like Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to and from the airport, putting Meghalaya firmly in the country’s air connectivity map, says a report in the Assam Tribune. Under RCS, Air Deccan will be operating several flights connecting Umroi to Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, Imphal and Silchar. Currently, Alliance Air operates just one ATR-42 aircraft on the Kolkata-Umroi-Kolkata route.

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The UDAN project was launched by the Centre in 2016 to improve connectivity to under-served/un-served airports and airstrips in the country. “Some facilities like refueling have already been completed and we are working on extension of the runway. The Environmental Impact Assessment study has been entrusted to a private firm. On the offing is the installation of advanced facilities, like Instrument Landing System,” said airport director Manoj Kumar Nayak.

New gear

The photograph shows an Indian Reserve Battalion man with body-worn camera on patrol duty in Nagaland’s commercial town of Dimapur. Following Nagaland police chief, Rupin Sharma’s order, Dimapur police personnel have started wearing body-worn cameras while on patrolling duty to ensure a more secure and safer environment for the denizens of Dimapur, says a report in the Guwahati-based Assam Tribune. This is one step towards bringing transparency in the working of the police and making them people-friendly. More CCTV cameras are being installed. Similar measures will be put in place in Kohima too. Two traders, including a 45-year-old woman, were shot at, early this month.

Free dialysis unit

The Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences in Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun received a free dialysis unit on 12 April, under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme, says a report in the Itanagar-based Arunachal Times.

NCD SNO Dr L Jampa informed that the state has received five out of 15 dialysis equipments, which have been donated by the Fairfax India Charitable Foundation, in partnership with the Government of India. The programme is designed to be implemented in the public-private-partnership mode, in collaboration with the service provider, Kolkata-based Eskag Sanjeevani Pvt Ltd.

The state has signed a MoU with the company for five years, in which free dialysis services will be provided by the government to patients requiring dialysis for kidney ailments. Health and Family Welfare Commissioner Kaling Tayeng inaugurated the dialysis unit at the TRIHMS in a function, which was also attended by National Health Mission director Dr Tapasya Raghav, among others.