Rampur heliport project completed

Shimla: The Rampur Heliport has been built at a cost of Rs 3.40 crore and the administrative approval, expenditure sanction and technical sanction is for Rs 7.38 crore which includes development construction cost and procurement of all equipment and fire tenders by Pawan Hans Ltd.

Chief Minister JaiRam Thakur said that the work of development of Rampur heliport was started in the year 2020 and was completed in August, 2022 in a record time under RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) UDAN-II sanctioned by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India having total area of 12,130 square meters.

He said that this heliport has modern facilities like CCTV Security installation, VIP lounge, parking, OPS and Fire Station, security hut, UG tank, watch tower, perimeter fencing illumination, reception counter, heliport manager office and ticket counter.

The flight services in Shimla- Rampur-Shimla route were started in December 2021 and flights were operating thrice a week. The one way fare on this route was Rs. 3275.

Jai Ram said that through the efforts for providing helicopter services under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme, the State Government has developed new heliports.

Work on heliports, Shimla heliport near Sanjauli by pass road, at Baddi in Solan district and at Rampur has been completed and ready for helicopter service operations.

In addition, heliport at Kangnidhar (Mandi) was near completion and another heliport was being developed at Manali (DGRE, SASE)
Chief Minister said the newly constructed heliport at Rampur was the second among five heliports being developed and inaugurated under UDAN scheme of Govt. of India.

Jai Ram said recently the State Government has also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India to extend the helicopter service for connecting Reckong Peo in District Kinnaur and Chamba under UDAN scheme to provide connectivity to the remote tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh.

Currently there were 64 helipads and 38 new helipads were being developed.