Andhra Pradesh government launches seaplane service from Vijayawada to Srisailam
HYDERABAD, NOVEMBER 09, 2024: The Telangana state government is considering introducing seaplane services in the state due to the abundant water bodies along the rivers Godavari and Krishna.
Though, the government had planned to launch Seaplane services in the Telangana state under the RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) in the year 2016, but could not materialize following the then-state government not showing any interest in launching the services in spite of availability of water bodies in the state.
However, on the other hand, Andhra Pradesh had formally launched the demo drive of the inaugural seaplane service from Punnami Ghat near Prakasam barrage in Vijayawada to a jetty, near the ropeway in Srisailam in Nandyal district on Saturday (November 9, 2024). Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu made a round trip by the demo flight. The Andhra Pradesh Government had constituted AP Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) for the operation of seaplanes under the public and private partnership programme.
Now that the Government of Andhra Pradesh has been negotiating to with the Government of Telangana for operating seaplanes to various destinations, including the Hyderabad-Srisailam route, the Telangana government is planning to introduce seaplane services in various parts of the state.
The sources said that the seaplane services can be operated from the centrally located Hussainsagar lake (Tank bund) in Hyderabad to LMD (Karimnagar), MMD (Rajanna-Sircilla), Sripada Yellampalli project (Ramagundam), SRSP (Armoor), Upper Manair Dam in Narmal of Yellareddypet mandal (Rajanna-Sircilla), Medigadda (Kaleshwaram- Jayashankar-Bhupalapalli district), Nagarjunasagar (Nalgonda), Mallannasagar and other irrigation projects.
Unlike Andhra Pradesh which has seven domestic airports in Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Kurnool, Renikunta, Visakapatnam and Puttaparti, the Telangana state has only two airports that too in Hyderabad at Begumpet and Shamshabad. The Telangana government made several efforts to take up the construction of new airports in Ramagundam, Adilabad, Warangal and other places, but this was not feasible due to non-availability of land and the farmers refusing to hand over the land for the airstrips.
At this juncture, it is better to start the seaplane services which require no land acquisition with the simple construction of water aerodromes with limited infrastructure and construction time making them efficient and cost-effective solutions for regional connectivity.
The operation of seaplane services from Hyderabad to LMD and Mallannasagar project would help revive the defunct IT towers by inviting several IT firms to start their firms and provide employment to the local youth. The seaplane from Hyderabad to MMD would boost tourism to Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy devasthanam and Kondagattu temple shrine in the integrated Karimnagar district. The seaplane services from Hyderabad to Sripada Yellampalli project would come in handy for the officials of NTPC Ramagundam and Singareni Collieries Company Limited and the people of coal belt Godavarikhani and Mancherial and also Peddapalli and Manthani towns. The seaplane services to SRSP would benefit the tourists visiting the Basara Saraswati temple.
By promoting seaplane services, there would boost in the local economy through tourism, creating new employment opportunities and improving access to remote destinations. Besides, the VIPs could save a lot of time and fuel charges by travelling in seaplanes instead of using the convoys, the sources said.
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