Three bidders jockey for north-east Indian air rights

New Delhi, Jul 3 : Up to three airlines are bidding for the right to operate a dedicated regional airline for India’s north-eastern states, the Press Trust of India reports.

One of the bidding airlines is state-run Alliance Air (now renamed Air India Regional after its merger into Air India), the other two are Universal Empire and Ace Airlines .

“Three airlines have participated in the tender for the regional airline,” Minister for Development for North-Eastern Region Mani Shankar Aiyer told the PTI.

The government wants the airline to use Guwahati as its hub and serve 11 regional airports currently operational in the region, including Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Jorhat, Silchar, Dimapur, Imphal, Agartala, Aizawal and Bagdogra.
In return, the winning airline will be eligible to receive government subsidies from the North Eastern Council, which wants a regional air service operational by the end of this year.

The PTI reports that 25 new airports will be built under a five year plan and a projected 400 monthly flights operational by the end of next year.

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Band of Brothers to cheer up famine-hit Mizos

Aizawl, Jul 3 : The ‘Band of Brothers’ from Nagaland landed on the soil of famine-hit Mizoram with a mission to fight mautam (bamboo flowering) by means of a ‘Fraternity Concert’ Greeting the local denizens at Lengpui Aiport, team’s project director G Sema said yesterday the people and government of Nagaland could not sit still unless their Mizo brothers recover from mautam famine.

Mr Sema hoped that the Fraternity Concert, to be staged at Vanapa Hall here on Friday, would bolster the bond of brotherhood between the Mizos and Nagas.

A Nagaland Music Task Force had been set up under the state’s youth resources and sports department, which comprises Nagaland’s top band ‘Ecstacy’ as well as topper and finalists of the ‘Nagaland Idol’ reality show.

Two top Mizo officials in the Nagaland government–Chief Secretary Lalhuma and Additional Chief Secretary Lalthara–are also involved in the project. Mr Lalthara told newspersons that donations of Rs 20 lakh had already been obtained for mautam relief.

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