Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released nearly Rs 909 crore for seven Northeastern states under the helicopter subsidy scheme for the financial years in the period from 2015-16 to 2024-25.
In order to provide connectivity to remote areas of NER, the helicopter subsidy scheme is being administered by MHA in the NE states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur. The scheme further aims to provide affordable passenger transport in NER, evacuation during natural calamities and for urgent medical evacuation, etc. MHA bears 75% of the total cost of operation after deducting passenger recovery or a flat 20% of the actual operation cost, whichever is more, according to the North East Division of MHA.
For the purpose of restricting the subsidy, the MHA has also fixed an annual ceiling on the flying hours for the seven eligible NE states.
According to the North East Division of MHA, the fund released for helicopter services in the seven NE states per financial year is as follows: Rs 76.45 crore for 2015-16, Rs 86 crore for 2016-17, Rs 86 crore for 2017-18, Rs 90 crore for 2018-19, Rs 100 crore for 2019-20, Rs 72.50 crore for 2020-21, Rs 100 crore for 2021-22, Rs 100 crore for 2022-23, Rs 88 crore for 2023-24, and Rs 110 crore for 2024-25. During the period mentioned, the fund released in the last financial year was the highest.
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