Gujarat : Seaplane Project Sinks in Sabarmati River, services terminated in April 2023!

Ahmedabad : After barely 80 days of operation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project—seaplane services between Ahmedabad and the Statute of Unity (SoU) in Kevadia—were stopped in April 2023. During the fiscal year 2024–25 budget session in the Gujarat Assembly, this was announced by Balwantsinh Rajput, the minister of civil aviation in Gujarat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a seaplane to fly from the Sabarmati riverbank to the Dharoi dam in Mehsana just before the 2017 Gujarat state assembly elections in an effort to win over prospective voters. The unofficial launch of seaplane services in India and Gujarat began around this time. A gimmick, according to the opposition Congress, was the prime minister’s proposal.

On the 145th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which falls on October 31, 2020, the Prime Minister officially opened the Seaplane services by taking a flight from Kevadia, where the Statue of Unity (SoU) is located, to Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Riverfront.

Kevadia is home to the world’s tallest statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, and the much-touted services were meant to boost tourism in the area. Time savings of 40–45 minutes were also targeted for the approximately 200 km distance between Kevadia and Ahmedabad.

Nevertheless, the flights were discontinued in April 2021 when SpiceShuttle, a subsidiary of SpiceJet, departed due to operational problems brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. A one-way ticket may only cost ₹5,000. Deductions for services have been made ever since.

“The Seaplane services were operational for two months and in maintenance for the remainder period,” said Tushar Chaudhari, a Congress lawmaker from Khedbrahma. The Civil Aviation minister was questioned during question hour on the use of the ₹22 crores allocated to the services over the last two years and their operating status.

According to Rajput’s written answer, ₹4,49,74,451 was unused in 2022–23 due to non-operational services and the corona pendemic in 2021–22. Furthermore, he claimed that the services were malfunctioning.

During the aircraft discussions, Arjun Modhwadia, a Congress MP from Porbandar, voiced concern over the prime minister’s use of a plane that was allegedly 50 years old.

“The performance of the aircraft is determined not by how old the plane is, but by how much its engine is used,” said Harsh Sanghvi, Minister of State (MoS) for Home, in response to this, who was enraged. So, stop making up stories about the planes that are 50 years old and so on.

“The aircraft brought in for the PM’s travel was not suitable for the PM’s travel since it was a single engine plane,” said Shailesh Parmar, a Congress MP from Danilimda. The purchase of this aircraft was also superfluous since, as per the MoS and after factoring in the engine hours, it was clearly not a smart move.

The services have been unusable since April 2021,” Parmar continued. Given its purportedly outstanding service, why isn’t the government starting it? Why hasn’t it taken off yet, and will the government buy a new plane or keep using the old one?

“Seaplane services are not a failure,” the minister of civil aviation said. In its 80 days of service, the seaplane has carried 2,192 passengers on 276 flights. Therefore, it seems that its services are still operational. The Sabarmati riverside, the Statue of Unity (SoU) at Kevadiya, the Shetrunjay dam, and the Dharoi dam will be the four sites where these services will commence.