TRANSPORT

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TRANSPORT

BestCurrentAffairs.com The Indian Railways have been a great integrating force during the last more than 164 years. It has bound the economic life of the country and helped in accelerating the development of industry and agriculture. From a very modest beginning in 1853, when the first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane, a distance of 34 kms, Indian Railways have grown into a vast network of 7,349 stations spread over a route length of 67,368 km with a fleet of 11,461 locomotives, 53,453 passenger service vehicles, 6,714 other coaching vehicles and 2,77,987 wagons. The growth of Indian Railways in the 165 years of its existence is thus phenomenal. It has played a vital role in the economic industrial and social development of the country. The network runs multi-gauge operations extending over 67,368 route kilometers.  The rolling stock fleet of Indian Railways in services comprised 39 steam, 6,023 diesel and 5,399 electric locomotives.  About 35.32 per cent of the route kilometre and 47.09 per cent of running track kilometre and 48.26 per cent of total track kilometre is electrified. The network is divided into 17 zones.  The 17 zones and their respective headquarters are given here:  There are thirteen undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, viz., (i) RITES Ltd., (ii) IRCON International Limited, (iii) Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC), (iv) Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), (v) Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), (vi) Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Limited (MRVC) (vii) Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC), (viii) Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. (Rail Tel), (ix) Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), (x) Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), (xi) Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd. (BWEL), (xii) Burn Standard Company Limited (BSCL) and (xiii) Braithwaite and Company Limited (BCL).  The Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) at Lucknow is the R&D wing of Indian Railways.  Though a part of the overall financial figures of the Government of India, the Railway Budget was being presented separately to Parliament since 1924- 25 owing to the Separation Convention of 1924. The Railways had its own 16 demands for grants, which also used to be considered and passed by the Parliament separately. The main reason behind the Separation Convention was to secure stability for civil estimates as the Railway finance used to be a sizeable part of the general finances. The Government decided to merge the Railway Budget with the general Budget from the 2017-18.  In pre-independence period, electrification remained confined to 388 Route Kilometers (RKMs) and it is only in the post independence period that further electrification was taken up. Since then, there has been no looking back and the Indian Railways has slowly but steadily electrified its routes. By March, 2018,

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020 electrification was been extended to 29,376 RKMs out of the total rail network of 67,368 RKMs. This constitutes 44.85 per cent of the total railway network.  New Catering Policy 2017 was issued in 2017 with the objective to provide quality food to rail passengers BestCurrentAffairs.com by unbundling of catering services on trains.  Railways has been operating the luxury tourist train ‘Palace on Wheels’ since 1982. Four more trains namely ‘Deccan Odyssey’, ‘Golden Chariot’, ‘Heritage Palace on Wheels’ and ‘Maharajas Express’ on similar lines have been added over the years. All these trains are fully air-conditioned and self sufficient to take care of all the requirements of the passengers for their mostly one week voyage but some with shorter trips too.  The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was formed in 2009 by bifurcating the erstwhile Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways into two independent ministries.  The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport and transport research. It encompasses construction and maintenance of national highways (NHs), administration of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, National Highways Act,1956 and National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules,2008, formulation of broad policies relating to road transport, environmental issues, automotive norms etc. besides making arrangements for movements of vehicular traffic with neighboring countries. The capacity of national highways in term of handling traffic (passenger and goods) needs to be in tandem with the industrial growth. India has about 58.98 lakh kms of road network, which is the second largest in the world. This comprises national highways, expressways, state highways, major district roads, other district roads and village roads. The break- up is—national highways/expressways–1,32,500 kms; state highways– 1,56,694 kms; other roads–56,08,477 kms totalling to 59,97,671 kms. The Ministry has been entrusted with the responsibility of developmentand maintenance of national highways (NHs). All roads other than national highways in the states fall within the jurisdiction of respective state governments. In order to assist the state governments in the development of state roads, central government also provides financial assistance out of the Central Road Fund (CRF) and Inter State Connectivity and Economic Importance (ISC & EI) Scheme.  The NHDP was mainly being implemented by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL), and is spread over seven phases with an estimated expenditure of about ₹ 6,00,000 crore. Some of the major National Highways constructed under this programme include Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) connecting 4 major metropolitan cities viz., Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata, North South & East West Corridors (NS-EW) connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbandar with a spur from Salem to Cochin, road connectivity of major ports of the country to national highways. The remaining works under NHDP have now been subsumed under the Ministry’s new flagship programme - Bharatmala.  The Government is implementing National Highways Development Project (NHDP), the largest Highways Project ever undertaken in the country since 2000. The NHDP is mainly being implemented by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL).  The Bharatmala Pariyojana envisages development of about 26,000 km length of economic corridors, which along with Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) Corridors are expected to carry majority of the freight traffic on roads. Further, about 8,000 km of inter corridors and about 7,500 km of feeder routes have been identified for improving effectiveness of economic corridors, GQ and NS-EW Corridors.  In order to ensure safe and smooth flow of traffic, the Ministry has envisaged a plan for replacement of level crossing on national highways by Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/Road Under Bridges (RUBs) under a scheme known as Setu Bharatam.  Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana: This project envisages development of easy access to the four prominent Dhams, namely, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, situated in Uttarakhand. These four Dhams are prominent pilgrimage centres. The project entails development of 889 km of roads with configuration of two-lane with paved shoulders.  The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was set up under the NHAI Act, 1988. It has been entrusted with National Highways Development Project (NHDP), which along with other minor projects, has vested in it 50329 kms of national highways for development, maintenance and management.  The total length of NH (including expressways) in the country is 1,32,499 kms. While highways / expressways constitute only about 1.7 per cent of the length of all roads, they carry about 40 per cent of the road traffic.  The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a project to up- grade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in the country to a higher stan- dard. The project was started in 1998 This project is managed by NHAI under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. It represents 49,260 km of roads and highways work and construction in order to boost economic development of the country. The NHDP has been subsumed in the ongoing Bharatmala project.  National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation: The NHIDCL is a fully owned company of the Ministry that exclusively carries out the task of construction/ up-grading/widening of national highways in parts of the country which share international boundaries with neighbouring countries in order to promote regional connectively with neighbouring countries on a sustainable basis.  Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE) is a registered society under the administrative control of the Ministry. It is a collaborative body of both central and state governments and was set up in 1983 with the objective of fulfilling the long felt need for training of highway engineers in the country, both at the entry level and during the service period. India Year Book 2020 Synopsis [BestCurrentAffairs.com] Page No.105 © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved. [For IAS Prelims 2020]

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  National highways constitute just two per cent of the country’s road network but carry 40 per cent of the traffic load.  National Registry of Vehicle and License Records: In order to usher in transformational improvements in BestCurrentAffairs.com this sector, the Ministry has put in place several policies for citizens. Transport Mission Mode Project has successfully automated RTO operations, set up a consolidated transport database. Along with it, a host of citizen and trade centric applications have also been implemented. The salient aspects of this Mission Mode Project are two flagship applications - Vahan and Sarathi. While Vahan consolidates vehicle registration, taxation, permit, fitness and associated services across the country, Sarathi looks after the driving license, learner licence, driving schools and related activities. This has been implemented in more than 1,000 RTOs across 13 states/UTs with state-specific rules, tax structure, etc.  The important schemes on road safety operated by the Ministry include publicity measures and awareness campaign on road safety, Scheme for Setting up Institutes for Driving Training, Refresher Training of Drivers in Unorganized Sector and Human Resource Development, National Highways Accident Relief Service Scheme (NHARSS), setting up of inspection and certification centres and road safety and pollution testing equipment and programme implementation.  Government has implemented a nationwide Electronic Toll Collection based on passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) conforming to EPC Gen-2, ISO 18000-6C standards. It provides for electronic collection of toll through FASTags. The project was first launched in 2015.  In order to develop eco-friendly highways, the Green Highways (Plantation Transplantation. Beautification and Maintenance) Policy was firmed up in 2016. The Policy aims to develop eco-friendly national highways with the participation of community, farmers, NGOs and private sector. The initial plantation drive on 1,500 km of national highways at a cost of about ₹ 300 crore was launched as part of the Policy.  The Ministry of Shipping was formed in 2009 by bifurcating the erstwhile Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways into two independent ministries. Maritime Transport is a critical infrastructure for the economic development of a country.  India has a long coastline of about 7,517 km, spread on the western and eastern shelves of the mainland and also along the Islands. It is an important natural resource for the country’s trade. There are 12 major ports and about 200 non-major ports. Indian shipping industry has over the years played a crucial role in the transport sector of the economy. Approximately 95 per cent of the country’s trade by volume and 68 per cent by value is moved through maritime transport.  To harness the coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes, the Government of India has embarked on the ambitious Sagarmala Programme to promote port-led development in the country.  Approximately 95 per cent of the country’s trade in terms of volume and 68 per cent in terms of value is moved by sea.  The Indian shipbuilding industry continued to concentrate on defence, coastal and inland vessels. The fleet expansion plans of Indian Navy and the vessels for the Indian Coast Guard are the two prime segments which were targeted by the Indian shipyards. A shipbuilding subsidy scheme was in existence to promote Indian Shipbuilding industry for Central PSU Shipyards since 1971. The scheme was extended to all Indian shipyards in October 2002. This policy which provided shipbuilding subsidy gave a boost to this Industry.  There are 27 shipyards in the country, 6 under central public sector, 2 under state governments and 19 under private sector.  India has 25-30 per cent share in the global ship recycling industry. Ship recycling is carried out mainly at Alang-Sosiya in Gujarat. Started in February, 1983, Alang-Sosiya is the largest ship recycling yard in the world. Approximately 10 km long sea front on the western coast of the Gulf of Cambay adjoining to Alang-Sosiya village has been developed as a ship recycling yard. It is blessed with high tidal range, long beach with gentle slope and firm ground, facilitating beaching of ships just at the threshold of the plot. It has high recycling potential of more than 450 ships (approximately 4.5 million LDT) per annum.  There are 12 major ports and about 200 non-major ports along India’s coastline which is about 7517 km. The 6 major ports–Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Kamarajar (Ennore), Chennai and V.O. Chidamananar are on the east coast and the other major ports viz., Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Sheva, Navi Mumbai) and Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla) are on the west coast. The major ports are under the direct administrative control of the central government and fall in Union List 7th Schedule of Constitution. Ports other than the major ones are under the jurisdiction of the respective maritime state government and fall in the Concurrent List. Of the total traffic handled by all Indian ports, 57 per cent is handled by major ports and 43 by others.  Kolkata Port is the only riverine major port in the country having been in existence for about 138 years.  The port has twin dock systems viz., Kolkata Dock System on the eastern bank and Haldia Dock Complex on the western bank of river Hooghly.  Paradip Port is one of the major ports of the country. Government of India took over the management of the port from the state government in 1965. The Government of India declared Paradip Port Trust (PPT) as the eighth major port the country making it the first major port in the east coast commissioned in independent India.  New Mangalore Port was declared the ninth major port in 1974 inaugurated in 1975. The port has 16 berths and one single point mooring with a total capacity of 87.63 MTPA.  The modern port of Cochin was developed during the period 1920- 1940 due to the untiring efforts of Sir Robert Bristow. By 1930-31 it was formally opened for vessels up to 30 feet draught. Cochin was given the status of a major port in 1936. The administration of the port got vested in a Board of Trustees in 1964 under the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  Constructed in the mid 1980’s and commissioned in 1989, Jawaharlal Nehru Port has come a long way by becoming a world-class international container handling port. It is a trendsetter in port development in India through new initiatives like private sector participation. Jawaharlal Nehru Port is an all BestCurrentAffairs.com weather tidal port having 12 berths with a capacity of 89.37 MTPA.  Mumbai Port is a fully integrated multi-purpose port handling container, dry bulk, liquid bulk and break bulk cargo.  Chennai Port is an all weather artificial harbour with one outer harbour and one inner harbour with a wet dock and a boat basin with round the clock navigation facilities. It was established in 1875.  Mormugao Port, situated on the west coast of India, is more than a century old port.  V.O. Chidambaranar Port is located strategically close to the east- west international sea routes on the south eastern coast of India at latitude 80 45’N and longitude 780 13’E. located in the Gulf of Mannar, with Sri Lanka on the south east and the large land mass of India on the west.  Deendayal Port (erstwhile Kandla Port) was established in 1950 as a central government project and Union Government took over Kandla for its development as a major port.  Port of Visakhapatnam, a natural harbour, was opened to commercial shipping in 1933. It is the only Indian port possessing three international accreditations viz., ISO 14001; 2004 (EMS)/OHSAS 18001 and ISO 90001:2000 (QMS).  Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL), the 12th major port under the Ministry of Shipping was commissioned in 2001, primarily as a coal port dedicated to handling thermal coal requirements of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). KPL has the distinction of being the only corporate port amongst the major ports administered by the central government.  India has one of the longest navigable and inland water networks. However, cargo transport through these inland waterways is, presently less than 1 per cent of the total cargo movement in the country. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was constituted in 1986, for the development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation. 111 inland waterways have been declared as ‘National Waterways’ under the National Waterways Act, 2016.  Jai Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) is being implemented by the IWAI for the capacity augmentation of national waterway I on the Haldia–Varanasi stretch of Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. The salient features of JMVP include: construction of three multimodal and inter-modal terminals, new navigational lock at Farakka, integrated vessel repair and maintenance facilities, day and night navigational aids, river conservancy work, etc.  Indian Maritime University (IMU) was set up in 2008 in Chennai with campuses at Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam as a central university. The existing seven government and government aided maritime training and research institutes viz., Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Kolkata, Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Mumbai, Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research, Mumbai, T.S. Chanakya, Navi Mumbai, National Maritime Academy, Chennai, Indian Institute of Port Management, Kolkata as well as National Ship Design and Research Centre, Visakhapatnam have been merged with the IMU.  Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) provides service to enable the mariners to know their position with respect to a fixed point on the land with the help of visual aids to navigation such as lighthouses, light vessels, buoys, beacons and radio aids to navigation like differential global positioning system (DGPS), radar beacons (Racons), vessel traffic service (VTS) and automatic identification system (AIS) etc.  The Directorate General of Shipping, an attached office of the Ministry of Shipping, was established in 1949 for administering the Indian Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 on all matters relating to shipping policy and legislation, implementation of various international conventions  The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) was formed in 1961 by amalgamation of Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation through ‘Shipping Corporation Amalgamation Order 1961. The amalgamation envisaged better co-ordination of policies, greater economy and efficiencies of operations between the two companies.  Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), located in Kochi in Kerala is one of the largest shipyards in the country which can build ships upto 1, 10,000 DWT and repair ships upto 1, 25,000 DWT.  It is the only yard which has regularly undertaken dry dock repairs of the aircraft carriers of Indian Navy. CSL had the privilege of receiving INS Viraat for the 13th time - her last refit in 2016-17 and ISO9001 certificate.  Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DClL) was formed in 1976 to provide integrated dredging and related marine services for promoting the country’s national and international maritime trade.  Located strategically on the eastern seaboard of India at Visakhapatnam, DCI helps ensure continuous availability of the desired depths in the shipping channels of the major and minor ports, navy, fishing harbours and other maritime organizations.  Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbour Works (ALHW) a subordinate office under Ministry of Shipping was established during 1965 for the service of A&N Islands and Lakshadweep Islands.  Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Limited (HDPEL), Kolkata became a Central Public Sector undertaking in 1984. The Company has two working units in Howrah district of West Bengal, one at Saikia and another at Nazirgunge.  The Ministry of Civil Aviation is responsible for formulation of national policies and programmes for the development and regulation of the civil aviation sector in the country. It is responsible for the administration of the Aircract Act, 1934, Aircraft Rules, 1937 and various other legislations.  For the first time since Independence and Integrated Civil Aviation Policy was notified in June, 2016.  The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN was envisaged in National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016 with the twin objective of promoting balanced regional growth and making flying affordable for masses. India Year Book 2020 Synopsis [BestCurrentAffairs.com] Page No.107 © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved. [For IAS Prelims 2020]

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020 The Scheme, which will be in operation for a period of 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through revival of existing air strips and airports.  Air Sewa is an initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation launched 2016 to offer people a convenient and hassleBestCurrentAffairs.com free air travel experience.  Government of India has raised the FDI limit for 49 to 100 per cent in scheduled and non scheduled air transport services, FDI in scheduled airlines upto 49 per cent permitted under automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent through Government approval. For NRIs, 100 per cent FDI will continue to he allowed under automatic route.  The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is an attached office of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and is headed by Director General (Civil Aviation). The headquarters are located in New Delhi and there are Regional and Sub-regional offices all over the country. DGCA is primarily responsible for regulation of air transport services to/from/within India and for enforcement of civil air regulations, air safety and airworthiness standards. It is also responsible for licensing of pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and monitoring of flight crew standards; regulation of civil aircraft; investigation of minor air incidents; supervision of training activities of flying/gliding clubsand other such regulatory functions. The regulations are in the forms of the Aircraft Act, 1934, the Aircraft Rules, the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), the aeronautical information circulars. It also co-ordinates all regulatory functions with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).  The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was initially set up as a cell in the DGCA in 1978, to coordinate, monitor, inspect and train personnel in Civil Aviation Security matters. It was reorganized into an independent Department in 1987.  The BCAS has its headquarters in New Delhi and has nine regional offices at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Imphal airport.  Airports Authority of India (AAI) came into being in April 1995. AAI is a Mini Ratna-Category-I PSE involved in building, upgrading, maintaining and managing airports infrastructure across the country. It owns and maintains 125 airports (96-operational and 29 - non-operational) comprising 21international airport (3 - civil enclaves), 8 - custom airports (4 - civil enclaves), 77 - domestic airports and 19domestic civil enclaves.  Authority of India (AAI) provides Air Navigation Services (ANS) at all civil airports in the country. AAI manages the designated Indian air space measuring 2.8 million square nautical miles which includes land area measuing 1.05 million square nautical miles and oceanic airspace measuring 1.75 million square nautical miles Air Navigation Services are also provided by the AAI at 11 other airports that are not managed by AAI namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin, Lengpui, Diu, Latur, Mundra, Nanded and Sathya Sai Puttaparthy airports, which are joint venture airports, state government owned airports and private airports.  GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) is an augmentation system to enhance the accuracy and integrity of GPS signals to meet precision approach requirements in Civil Aviation and it is being implemented jointly by AAI and ISRO. It is fully operational since May 2015 and available on 24 × 7 basis. Presently GAGAN Signal-in-Space is available to users from two geostationary satellites (GSAT-8 and GSAT10) and third geo-satellite GSAT-15 is in the process of integration with GAGAN system.  Consequent upon merger of erstwhile Air India Ltd. and Indian Airlines, a new company viz., National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) was incorporated. Consequently post merger, the new entity is known as “Air India” and the appointed date of the merger is 1 April 2007. The “Maharaja” is retained as its mascot. The Registered Office of the Company is in New Delhi. Air India Ltd. is basically a passenger orientated airlines operating to 72 on - line domestic stations (including Alliance Air) and 42 international destinations in 28 countries. It is in transport services sector under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.  Air-India Air Transport Service Limited (AIATSL): AIATSL provides ground handling services at 65 airports.  Air-India Charters Limited (AICL): AICL operates a low cost airline under the brand name “Air India Express”. Launched in 2005 with a fleet of 3 leased B737-800 aircraft, it operated from 3 stations in Kerala to 5 stations in the Gulf.  Air-India Engineering Services Limited-Aiesl (AIESL): AIESL presently provides Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services to a fleet of 135 aircraft of Air India Limited and its subsidiary companies viz. Air India Charters Ltd. and Airline Allied Services Limited and few third party Airlines.  Airline Allied Services Limited- (AASL): As in 2016 the Company had 3 ATR-42-320s, 5 ATR-72-600 and 3 CRJ-700s leased aircraft in its fleet. At the end of the year, the network of the Company consisted of 29 stations within the Country.  Alliance Air operates air services in the North East Region under an MoU with the North Eastern Council (NEC). It also operates flights between Agatti and the mainland under an undertaking of grant of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) by the Lakshadweep Administration.  Hotel Corporation of India Limited: Subsequent to the sale of 3 units of HCI (Centaur Mumbai Airport, Centaur Juhu Beach, Mumbai and Indo Hokke Hotel Ltd., Rajgir) as a part of disinvestment process as approved by the Government of India, at present, there are three units of HCI viz., Centaur Lake View Hotel (CLVH), Srinagar, Centaur Delhi Airport (CHDA) including Chefair Flight Catering (CFCD), Delhi and Chefair Flight Catering (CFCM), Mumbai.  Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) was incorporated in October, 1985 (under the name of ‘Helicopter Corporation of India Limited’) as a government company under the Companies Act. It was established with the primary objective of providing helicopter support services to the oil sector in offshore exploration, operate in hilly and inaccessible areas and make available charter flights for promotion of India Year Book 2020 Synopsis [BestCurrentAffairs.com] Page No.108 © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved. [For IAS Prelims 2020]

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020 travel and tourism. The registered office of Pawan Hans is located in New Delhi, corporate office at Noida and its regional offices are at Mumbai, New Delhi and Guwahati. The Company is providing helicopter services to several state governments namely, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Tripura, Sikkim, Odisha, BestCurrentAffairs.com Himachal Pradesh and Ministry of Home Affairs. It has provided 04 Dauphin helicopters to Andaman & Nicobar Islands and 02 Dauphin helicopters to Lakshadweep Islands. The Company is also providing helicopter services to NTPC, GAIL, GSPC and Oil India.  Pawan Hans has emerged as one of Asia’s largest helicopter operators having a well-balanced own operational fleet of 43 helicopters at present with pan India presence.  It has been providing helicopter support for offshore operation of ONGC for carrying its men and vital supplies round the clock to drilling rigs situated in Bombay off-shore platforms.  Pawan Hans runs the helicopter services from Phata to the Holy Shrine of Kedarnath during the yatra seasons i.e., May-June and September-October every year. It has also provided helicopter services for the Shri Amarnath Shrine.  The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) was set up at Fursatganj, Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh) to bring about a quantum improvement in the standards of flying and ground training of commercial pilots in the country.  The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is a statutory body constituted under the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act. 2008 in 2009 with its head office at Delhi.  Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) is a central university under the administrative control of the Ministry. The university has been established by the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University Act, 2013. It is situated at Fursatganj, Raebareli, district Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.