When the parliament is in session, the most interesting data which comes out is one via answering Parliamentary Questions which are asked by Honorable members of both houses of the parliament. Over the years, with dedicated websites for these, it has not only become transparent but also easy to search questions and their respective answers. Today, in Rajya Sabha – the upper house of Indian parliament, a question was asked around RCS – UDAN scheme by Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Sh. Tejveer Singh, Ms. Indu Bala Goswami, Sh. Brij Lal, Dr. K. Laxman, Dr. Kalpana Saini, Sh. Subhash Barala, Sh. Narhari Amin and Sh. Raji Bhattacharjee.
The questions included
- Details of progress and impact of RCS
- Number of air routes and airports that have been operationalised so far
- Number of passengers benefitted under the scheme
- Financial allocation and its utilisation
- Percentage of allocation that the state government will provide under RCS Grants
This was answered by Sh. Murlidhar Mohol, MoS (Civil Aviation and Co-operation) which throws light on some key numbers and shows how the scheme is progressing.
As per the reply, until Nov 25, 2024; 609 RCS routes connecting 86 unserved and underserved airports have so far been operationalised. These include those which were operationalised but may not be operational anymore, like the Ahmedabad and Sabarmati waterfront which was started by SpiceJet but did not continue for long. More than 146 lakh domestic passengers have so far travelled through 2.86 lakh RCS flights.
The most interesting data is around the allocation of funds for revival / upgradation of unserved and underserved Airports/Heliports/Water Aerodromes in the country. A total of INR 4500 crore was allocated, and INR 1000 crore was added to revive 50 airports, heloports, water aerodromes and advanced landging grounds for the period from FY 23-24 to FY25-26. As per the norms of the scheme, state governments are required to contribute 20% of the share towards VGF for RCS routes while states in the North East and Union Territories are required to contribute 10% of the VGF.
How are the states doing?
The data shared lists 29 states and shows the budget and utilisation of the same. Since the period of funding is till the end ofFY25-26 (current FY) and has a few months to go, some states (and UTs) may still see their use go up from where the numbers are today.
Eleven out of 29 states have utilisation of over 90%. These states ar Punjab, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Pondicherry, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.
Five states have utilisation less than 10%. These include Goa and Lakshadweep where the utilisation is 0%, followed by Andaman & Nicobar (UT) at 2.68%, Ladakh (UT) at 2.9% and Nagaland at 6.82%. Most likely the reason for this is the lack of seaplane service currently and the funds may well be allocated for building the infrastructure for this, especially at places like Goa where there are two fully operational airports.
Overall, the utilisation of funds stands at 78.34%, which is a very good number with a few months to spare for the allocation period to end.
States with highest amounts being sanctioned
Uttar Pradesh has the highest amount being sanctioned at INR 1128.32 crore, followed by Maharashtra at INR 561.2 crore. Odisha is third with INR 509.1 crore. Interestingly, Uttar Pradesh has utilised over 97% of that amount and it shows on the ground since it now has maximum operational airports for any state in the country having operationalised multiple small airstrips over in 2024.
| Sr. No | State | Sanctioned Amount | Expenditure till 31 Oct 2024 | Utilisation |
| 1 | Punjab | 143.25 | 143.22 | 99.98% |
| 2 | Bihar | 128.39 | 127.28 | 99.14% |
| 3 | Tamil Nadu | 97.88 | 96.11 | 98.19% |
| 4 | Uttar Pradesh | 1128.32 | 1096.29 | 97.16% |
| 5 | Pondicherry (UT) | 33.52 | 31.61 | 94.30% |
| 6 | Meghalaya | 62.84 | 59.01 | 93.91% |
| 7 | Assam | 116.9 | 109.67 | 93.82% |
| 8 | West Bengal | 38.88 | 36.21 | 93.13% |
| 9 | Maharashtra | 561.2 | 522.2 | 93.05% |
| 10 | Andhra Pradesh | 109.91 | 99.5 | 90.53% |
| 11 | Manipur | 33.76 | 30.5 | 90.34% |
| 12 | Chhattisgarh | 215.13 | 191.65 | 89.09% |
| 13 | Gujarat | 225.18 | 195.42 | 86.78% |
| 14 | Karnataka | 155.27 | 130.19 | 83.85% |
| 15 | Jharkhand | 129.58 | 107.78 | 83.18% |
| 16 | Arunachal Pradesh | 156.79 | 126.88 | 80.92% |
| 17 | Himachal Pradesh | 213.52 | 160.46 | 75.15% |
| 18 | Sikkim | 250.63 | 176.28 | 70.33% |
| 19 | Odisha | 509.51 | 341.48 | 67.02% |
| 20 | Haryana | 60.65 | 35.65 | 58.78% |
| 21 | D7D (UT) | 80.31 | 46.1 | 57.40% |
| 22 | Uttarakhand | 137.42 | 76.68 | 55.80% |
| 23 | Madhya Pradesh | 288.52 | 144.36 | 50.03% |
| 24 | Rajasthan | 91.72 | 44.22 | 48.21% |
| 25 | Nagaland | 70.69 | 4.82 | 6.82% |
| 26 | Ladakh(UT) | 10.2 | 0.3 | 2.94% |
| 27 | A&N (UT) | 58.59 | 1.57 | 2.68% |
| 28 | Goa | 40 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 29 | Lakshadweep | 130 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Total | 5278.56 | 4135.44 | 78.34% |
Reference: Unstarred question No. 643, answered on 2nd December 2024 in Rajya Sabha
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