SANJOY Borkakati is a medical representative who has been working for a multinational company in the Northeast for over ten years now. And every time he has to go out on tour, it is a series of sleepless nights, especially for his wife. ‘‘I have to travel by a night bus that takes at least 24 hours from Guwahati to Aizawl. And bad roads, landslides, dacoits and insurgent groups, you name it, and everything is there,’’ says Borkakati.Today, thanks to the introduction of the new internal air service by Alliance Air for the Northeastern region, things are going to improve drastically for the likes of Borkakati. The new air services were formally inaugurated on Wednesday.Equally upbeat is Prahlad Agarwal of Guwahati, whose business interests spread all over the Northeastern region. ‘‘Forget travelling, even payments do not come on time here,’’ says Agarwal.The new services are in fact going to bring about a sea change in inter-state travel in the Northeastern region. Take for instance, the journey between Guwahati and Aizawl. Right now people are being compelled to first take a flight to Kolkata, stay there overnight, and then catch a flight next morning to the Mizoram capital. The cost involved is Rs 2,720 from Guwahati to Kolkata, and then another Rs 3,090 from Kolkata to Aizawl. Add to it hotel and taxi bills in Kolkata.Those who cannot afford to spend so much on the other hand travel by buses that take 24 hours or more, as Borkakati points out. The distance between Guwahati and Aizawl is not much — 538 km. But one cannot compare the roads of the Northeast to those in other parts of the country. With the new flights commencing regularly from January, one will have to spend just Rs 3,075, thus not only saving Rs 2,735 straightaway, but also saving on valuable time apart from getting rid of the numerous hassles. The travel time now will be only about 30 minutes. By road, it is Rs 400 by bus or Rs 600 by a shared taxi, the latter taking three hours less than a bus.Another sector opened for air travel is the Silchar-Agartala route, linking the commercial town in Southern Assam with the Tripura capital. While a bus takes at least 14 hours between the two, the road is not just bad, but is also infested by armed dacoits. Those who can afford to, have been taking a flight to Kolkata and then to Agartala. Now, with the Alliance service, it will just be a 20-minute safe flight.Absence of proper air links between Guwahati and the other state capitals have in fact put a lot of people in deep trouble over the years. Like Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who on April 9 missed a crucial investment meeting organised by CII in Kolkata because the Agartala-Kolkata flight was delayed. He shot off a letter to Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Union Civil Aviation Minister, pointing out how the Agartala-Guwahati and Agartala-Kolkata flights are notorious for being irregular. Last year Sarkar missed a crucial NEC meeting in Shillong because the Agartala-Guwahati flight was cancelled at the last moment.The initiative to introduce the new flights, consisting of four 50-seater ATR-42 aircraft was mooted by Assam Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S.K. Sinha, who, as Chairman of NEC has been pressing the Centre to improve connectivity in the region. The first two aircraft have been handed over to Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines, that is already putting 19 per cent of its services to the Northeast against the stipulated 10 per cent.Once fully operational, the new services will also enhance the total air travel seat capacity in the region from the existing 2,125 to 4,177, almost double of what is currently available.‘‘Improved connectivity within the region will not only help the common people and those in business, but also provide a major fillip to the tourism industry too,’’ says Mridul Phukan of Jungle Travels, the leading travel agency of the region. ‘‘While we have often re-routed tourists for Aizawl via Kolkata, they will now be able to directly fly to the Mizo capital. Sending tourists directly from Guwahati to Dimapur (for onward journey to Kohima) too had been difficult,’’ observes Phukan.Operators like Phukan feel the new flights should also serve as feeder services to enable passengers catch the Guwahati-Bangkok international flight on Thursdays. The Air India Bangkok flight, introduced in April, has generated a lot of enthusiasm in the Northeast. Arun Shourie, Minister for Development of the Northeastern Region, on the other hand, sees the new air links as a step forward towards linking the region to the booming economies of Southeast Asia. ‘‘It is the Northeast that will be the gateway to Southeast Asia and ASEAN,’’ he said inaugurating the new service.Even connectivity within the state of Assam is going to improve significantly once the new air links become fully operational. At present, those in the Barak Valley in Southern Assam have to travel either by road through mountainous Meghalaya by an overnight bus, or take a 20-hour train journey (which also involves shifting from the metre gauge to broad gauge at Lumding) to reach Guwahati. Alliance Air will now convert this to just a 30-minute flight.
