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The air service to Cooch Behar district in West Bengal, which had resumed recently after a gap of 16 years, has come to a halt.
Formal services on the route had began on September 5, but private carrier North-East Shuttle ran it irregularly for just eight days citing various reasons, the State Transport Secretary, Mr B.P. Gopalika, told PTI here.
The last flight took off on October 3, and the operator had promised that it would resume operations from the middle of November, but did not do so, Mr Gopalika said.
The West Bengal government issued notice to the private operator last week for its failure to provide regular services on the air route.
“The airlink between Kolkata and Cooch Behar failed due to total breach of trust by the North-East Shuttle,” he said.
Mr Gopalika said irregular service by the operator was a gross violation of the agreement and it could no longer claim subsidy.
“We have given a notice to the operator asking why the agreement signed by the state government should not be terminated because of breach of trust,” he said.
“If the operator fails to comply, the agreement with it will be scrapped and we will find a new one on a long-term basis,” he said.
The air connectivity with the north Bengal town was announced with much fanfare by the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, on July 19 at a function in Siliguri and the State government projected the area as a prosperous industrial growth centre and a tourist destination.
The crumbling infrastructure at the Cooch Behar airport, which was lying idle after the lone Vayudoot flight was withdrawn in 1995, was refurbished at a cost of Rs 40 crore by the Airports Authority of India.
Ms Banerjee had also announced that operations would be subsidised by reserving eight seats per trip taking into consideration the initial loss in operations.
Earlier, the launch of an air service between Cooch Behar and Kolkata on July 15, 2010 by private operator Deccan Charters was deferred to August 16 that year.
It was further postponed because of non-availability of clearance by the Airports Authority of India and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, a wing of the DGCA.
Deccan Charters then promised to start daily air service by end of July, 2010, but it was also put off.
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