Shivamogga: Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra on Monday urged Karnataka govt to immediately provide viability gap funding (VGF) to sustain flights from Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Airport, saying air connectivity was crucial to the district’s development.
Speaking to reporters in Shivamogga, Raghavendra sought support on a par with the Rs 14 crore in annual assistance provided to Kalaburagi and Bidar airports.
IndiGo has suspended operations, while Star Air’s services under Union govt’s UDAN scheme are nearing the end of their contract, he said.
Nearly 4.2 lakh passengers had used Shivamogga airport over the past three years, he said. He said formal requests had been submitted to state chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh and infrastructure development department secretary Vishal to include Shivamogga in the upcoming UDAN 6.0 scheme.
Addressing concerns over ethanol-blended petrol, Raghavendra said it did not damage vehicles. Scientific reports and tests conducted across states through the Union govt had found no technical problems, he said. The BJP MP warned that a complete disruption in air connectivity would severely affect tourism, trade and industrial activity and inconvenience the public. Raghavendra expressed disappointment that Shivamogga was omitted from state govt’s priority flight route list prepared in Sept. Proposed routes would connect the city with Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Goa and Chennai.