Abstract
The Helicopter Services in North Eastern Region of India was introduced in 1992-93 to provide connectivity to common passengers to remote areas in the region and with the rest States and UTs of India at affordable cost and to evacuate people during natural calamities and medical emergencies. Presently, the helicopter services are operational in seven NE States, namely Arunachal Pradesh (1995), Sikkim (1998), Meghalaya (1999), Tripura (2002), Nagaland (2007), Mizoram (2012), and Manipur (2018). Objectives of the paper is to examine the efficiency and usefulness of the Helicopter scheme in the North East region; to find out the extent to which the scheme has facilitated connectivity for different layers of end users; and to identify the key bottlenecks and challenges faced during implementation of the scheme. With positivist frame of evaluation, both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used for data collection. The study has been conducted in seven states and a total of 384 respondents were sampled. During the period 2016-17 to 2018-19 the budget sanctioned by the MHA for the scheme is Rs. 86 crore, Rs. 86 crore and Rs. 90 crore, respectively which have been fully utilized by the State Governments. During 2019-20, Rs.100 crore has been sanctioned and the entire amount has been fully utilized. The budget amount was reduced to Rs. 42 core in the year 2020-21. From 2016-17 to 2019-20, the overall efficiency in North Eastern Region has seen a positive trend, although, it declined in 2018-19 due to a significant decline in the number of passengers in Nagaland and Sikkim despite a marginal decline in the input variable, i.e. number of flying hours. Among the sampled beneficiaries, women participate 22 per cent, SC represent 24 percent and ST and OBC represent 31 and 12 per cent respectively. This shows that the scheme is inclusive. In addition, the flying hours are optimally utilized and scheme caters the designated objectives.
Keywords: Helicopter, Infrastructure, Transport, North East, SDG, Evaluation, India
