Guwahati, July 04: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has sought personal intervention of the Prime Minister for continuation of the Bangkok international flight from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Gogoi said that the service, which remained suspended since April after its much-hyped introduction, was a "great setback to the entire North Eastern region".
According to official sources here, the chief minister expressed his displeasure at the cancellation of the sole international flight from the NE region despite assurance from the ministry of civil aviation. "The continuation of this service would have given the much-needed exposure to the region in two key sectors - tourism and trade," he said in the letter.
Regretting that the suspension of the flight "clearly reflects indifferent treatment meted out to the Guwahati-Bangkok flight", Gogoi pointed out that all airlines, including the Indian Airlines and Air India, were operating flights from Bangkok to other destinations barring Guwahati. Gogoi also urged the Union Minister for Development of North East, C P Thakur, to take up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Thakur in a letter to Gogoi on June 5 last had conveyed the decision of the civil aviation ministry on reintroduction of Air India's Mumbai-Kolkata-Bangkok flights via Guwahati and not to withdraw Air India's flights from this sector. But despite this the flight was cancelled. Bureau Report