The Centre on Monday informed in the Rajya Sabha that under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), which seeks to stimulate regional air connectivity at affordable rates for the masses, a total of Rs 4,500 crores have been allocated for the development of airports in the country, out of which Rs 3,751 crores have been utilized since the inception of the scheme.
This information came in as a written response from General (Dr) VK Singh (Retd), Minister of State, Ministry of Civil Aviation while replying to a question from AIADMK MP R. Dharmar, who enquired the details of the funds sanctioned, allocated and utilized under this scheme during the last three years and the current year across the country including Tamil Nadu.
“Viability Gap Funding (VGF) amounting to Rs 3,020 crores has been disbursed to the selected airline operators as of 28 November 2023. Out of Rs 97.88 crore sanctioned to develop the airports in the state of Tamil Nadu, an expenditure of Rs 94.51 crore has been incurred so far”, the MoS said in his reply.