The Hindu : New civil aviation policy not taken up by Cabinet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004

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New civil aviation policy not taken up by Cabinet

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 4. The much-awaited Government "go-ahead" to private domestic carriers to fly abroad, barring the Gulf region, and a green signal to the new civil aviation policy have failed to materialise.

Though the Union Cabinet which met here today had the two items on its agenda, it did not take them up for consideration, according to an official spokesman.

As the Cabinet did not consider the items relating to the civil aviation sector, further delay is being seen by industry sources as a setback to the private operators who had fixed their gaze on flying on lucrative international routes.

Government sources said the Cabinet would have considered the pros and cons of treading on crucial policy decision such as the opening of the aviation sector and a new policy based on the recommendations of the Naresh Chandra Committee report.

Also, the Congress president and the Leader of Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, referred specifically to the civil aviation sector in her letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, cautioning that rushing to implement the committee's report would amount to "major policy decisions in vital sectors like infrastructure.''

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, had told reporters on February 2 that the Cabinet was likely to examine the new civil aviation policy, including a number of issues relating to connectivity and making the sector more affordable. On the vital issue of increasing the Foreign Direct Investment level in the domestic civil aviation sector, he said further deliberations with other Ministries were needed.

Private domestic operators such as Jet Airways and Air Sahara could now pin their hopes on flying to Colombo as it would need the approval of flight plans from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, sources said.

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