Bhupen Hazarika Airport

It is great news that the Government of Assam has decided to name the Dibrugarh airport after the legendary musician, lyricist, singer, filmmaker and artist Dr Bhupen Hazarika. While the state cabinet has approved a proposal for the same, it is now only a matter of time that the Airports Authority of India takes appropriate steps to change the name of the airport accordingly. This is indeed a great tribute to the maestro, the most recognisable Assamese face, name and voice ever, which comes at a time when the birth centenary celebration of Bhupen Hazarika is about to begin. With this, two major infrastructure projects are now named after him, the first being the country’s longest river bridge, which connects Dhola with his birthplace, Sadiya. There is a government-owned film and television institute named after him at Changsari near Guwahati. While the government had named the Rupsi airport near Dhubri after Gurudev Kalicharan Brahma, only one civil airport of the state – the one at North Lakhimpur – remains to be named after an important personality. There is no immediate scope of renaming the airports at Jorhat, Tezpur and Silchar, because these are primarily defence establishments with additional facilities for operating a few civil air services. When it comes to discussing the issue of airports and civil aviation in Assam, what must also be brought to light is the fact that the much-publicised air services to North Lakhimpur and Rupsi have literally become non-operational. Similarly, failure on the part of the authorities to reintroduce morning flights between Guwahati and Dibrugarh, as well as between Agartala and Guwahati, has affected all sections – be it the business people or the common civilians. While the Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport (whose spelling is wrongly put by AAI as Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport) continues to grow, the original plan of making it a hub for the entire Northeast by way of introducing incoming flights from all other airports of the region in the early morning and late afternoon hours has remained a nonstarter for reasons best known to the concerned authorities. It is for the governments of all the Northeastern states and the hon’ble MPs from the region, as well as for the Minister for Development of the North-Eastern Region (DoNER), to take up the issue in right earnest with the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The issue of providing subsidies to the operators for running flights should also be reviewed, keeping in view the interest of the region above the interest of the operators.