Nagaland is all set to have two helicopter services as the Centre has sanctioned an additional helicopter service under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) subsidy scheme for 1,200 hours of flying in a year.
Deputy Secretary to the Union Government, A Radha Rani in a letter to Commissioner and Secretary of the State Transport Department on Wednesday had stated that in addition to the service of one helicopter service that was flying 480 hours per year, Nagaland would now have two services flying 1,200 hours annually with the current approval.
The Ministry, it is learnt, also directed the State Government to ensure that competitive bidding process was strictly followed before hiring the additional helicopter.
The Ministry has asked the State Government to furnish certain information details to enable the former to obtain approval of Standing Finance Committee (SFC) regarding hiring of an additional service.
The details that are required include type of proposed helicopters, proposed routes, expected annual utilization of flying hours, passengers fare to be fixed, expected revenue generation on account of passenger fares and estimated annual expenditure to incurred in hiring of an additional helicopter, worked out on the basis of details provided in respect of the above requirements.
The Ministry, sources claimed, has directed the State Government to furnish the details latest by October 26 next.
Nagaland presently was using chopper service of Global Vectra Helicorp Limited.