AAI donates Rs 10 lakh each to all northeastern states

By: Syeda Ambia Zahan
GUWAHATI: The AirportS Authority of India (AAI) under its CSR scheme has donated Rs 10 lakh each to every state government in the northeast, said Sanjeev Jindal, the regional executive director of northeast region.
"This fund will be utilized to procure PPEs, protective kits and equipment for health workers and hospitals in the states. As these bravehearts are fighting against the virus, we are always with them and will continue to help them in whatever manner we can," Jindal said.
He added that AAI in the northeast region has identified 10 airports where 500 families from a poor background who live near these airports will be provided 5 kg of rice each."We are equally worried for the anganwadi workers and will be contributing Rs 25 lakh for Manipur and Rs 20 lakh for Rani block in Assam with the help of UNDP-UNICEF. AAI in total has donated Rs 15 crore under CSR funds and out of this, Rs 3 crore is for the northeast region," Jindal said.
The employees of AAI have contributed their - ranging from a minimum of three days' to one month - to the PM Cares Fund. All the airports in northeast are prepared to fly commercial flights from April 15, Jindal said.
"Regarding resumption of commercial flight services from April 15, the final decision is yet to be taken by the Centre and by the ministry of civil aviation. But our airports in northeast are ready to cater to all the services as per normal practice with all the precautions in place and sanitization of airport premises, including the passenger terminal building," he said.
After the lock down in the country, commercial flight operations ceased from midnight of March 24, but airports were opened with minimum staff to run the emergency and essential services. All 12 airports in NER were opened for the same, however as per demand of the airlines and the directives of the ministry, the watch hours at the airports were extended.
"Right from February 2020, screening of all international passengers was started at Guwahati airport. Soon it was extended to all the domestic flights at all the airports in the region. 100 per cent thermal screening was carried out with the help of health officials and paramedics deployed by the state governments in all the airports in NER. A dedicated thermal screening camera was installed at LGBI Airport in Guwahati for mass screening within short time and checking of passengers," said Jindal.
AAI has informed that a total of 90 tonnes of air cargo till date has been delivered to different NER stations and about three tonnes has been air lifted from these ports, mainly Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur and Dimapur. Rest of the places were connected through roads and helicopters.