All National Highways in India to have helipads for emergency evacuations

New Delhi, Oct 19: All the national highways will have helipads for immediate evacuation during emergencies, said the Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday while speaking at civil aviation minister's conference.

For helipads at highways, the minister also said that they have had talks with the ministry of road transport regarding the project to ensure the infrastructure is in place.

"We had talks with the Ministry of Road Transport that all the new highways should have helipads along them so that infrastructure is in place. Helipads on national highways will help in immediate evacuations during emergencies," ANI quoted the minister as saying.

The civil aviation minister's conference was organized in Delhi in which the delegates of the civil aviation ministry were present.

Scindia urged the eight states' governments-Assam, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Punjab- to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) in order to increase air connectivity in these states.

The Union minister also said that VAT on jet fuel is still high in eight states and Union Territories in the range of 20-30 per cent.

"I urge you (eight states) politely to reduce VAT on ATF. I promise you to increase the aeroplane connectivity in your states," the news agency quoted him as saying.

He said that those 12 states which lowered VAT on ATF are witnessing increased frequency of flights because the aeroplanes will go where raw materials are cheap.

Scindia said that ATF constitutes between 45-50 per cent of the total cost of the airline sector.

"The ATF of these 12 states was 1-4 per cent, and the ATF of 26 states was 20-30 per cent. In the last one-and-a-half year, the graph of the ATF has increased from ₹53,000 per km to ₹1.40 lakh per km. In the last few months, there is a reduction in ATF of almost 20 per cent but the most cost-affecting part of the airline sector is still ATF," ANI quoted Scindia as saying.