Government to develop helipads along major highways

The government is looking to develop helipads along major highways so that accident victims can be evacuated from the spot using helicopters. MoCA is working with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to see whether the government will be able to develop these helipads, especially in major cities such as Mumbai and Delhi. Currently, there are around 250 helicopters in India, and non-scheduled operators manage 181 of them, while there is less than one helipad per district. Recently, the ministry came out with a new helicopter policy, which has made the pro­cesses simpler. Besides, helicopter corridors are being developed and thr­ee such corridors – Mumbai to Pune, Begumpet to Shamsabad and Ahme­dabad to Gandhinagar – are in place.  Further, the government is planning to develop 36 heliports under the regional air connectivity scheme, while six of them are already functional.