Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule has written to the Center, proposing the development of a water aerodrome project in the Ujjani reservoir under the UDAN-RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Ms Sule, who also met Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday in this regard, requested Mr Puri to extend the ministry’s UDAN-RCS to Ujjani, given the strategic status and suitability of the reservoir.
The Ujni Dam on the Bhima River is located at the junction of Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts and is about 125 km from the nearest commercial airport at Lohgaon in Pune.
For the devotees visiting the Vitthal-Rukmini temple in Pandharpur, it will help in the development of the aerial waterway. [in Solapur district] Ms. Sule said in her letter that even for about one million people living within the 50 km radius of the proposed water.
‘Feasible possibility’
The three-time MP further noted that due to the relatively high level of income of residents in the area, commercial flight operations were a viable possibility and there were a substantial number of passengers throughout the year who would use flight services.
“The Ujni water aerodrome may be connected to the existing and proposed water aerodrome at Goa, Thane Creek, Sabarmati waterfront and Sardar Sarovar dam,” said Ms. Sule. Such as Mumbai, Nashik, Kolhapur and Aurangabad.
Ms Sule further noted that the Ujjani reservoir had sufficient water depth and low air velocity throughout the year.
Ms. Sule said, “The reservoir is Z-shaped and therefore there are possibly two to three alignments for take-off and landing that would ensure adequate distance from Bhigwan Bird Sanctuary according to the criteria.”
Speaking to Hindu, Ayush Prasad, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pune Zilla Parishad, said that if approved by the Center, the Ujjani Jal-Daimro project would significantly enhance connectivity in rural areas of Maharashtra to an important commercial center.
“If the project gets the green signal, it will boost rural connectivity as envisaged by the UDAN scheme. It is certainly commercially viable as the reservoir is located in the middle of the ‘sugar heartland’ of Maharashtra and the people here are relatively affluent. Better connectivity will help the people of the region to connect with major cities with an increase in tourism and pilgrimage, ”said Mr. Prasad.
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