APATA Welcomes Move To Improve Infra At Airports

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Air Travellers Association (APATA) vice-president O Naresh Kumar has welcomed the focus.laid in the development of warehousing at all airports for air cargo movement. Naresh Kumar, who is a member of the Airport Advisory Committee, said hassle-free evacuation of cargo is very important for life-saving medicines and injections, APIs and seafood and other perishable items from a fast growing city like Visakhapatnam. He said air cargo movement, which was suspended for a long time after the pandemic, is now being revived due to persistent demand from the trade and commerce.

He said the announcement to add 120 new destinations under the Udaan scheme will help strengthen regional connectivity. Her said viability gap funding is required to improve flight services to various domestic and international destinations from Visakhapatnam and other tier-2 cities. Naresh Kumar, who is the chairman of Tour and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA), said developing 50 new tourist destinations in the country is most welcome.

"Our State must take the lead and develop at least five new tourist destinations in Andhra Pradesh," he said. He said allocation of just Rs.500 crore for AI is not enough. At least Rs10,000 crore must be allocated for new AI engines. He said the AP Government must take lead and focus on creating new jobs in leather and other industries. "We must also develop and encourage toy manufacturing in AP, by developing a new toy industry cluster, to avail funds promised by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman," he said. However, he expressed disappointment over failure to allot funds for new courts and judicial reforms to reduce litigation and resolve disputes in one year.