Centre grounds Maya govt plan to shop for jet in US

Lucknow: The Ministry of Extrernal Affairs has denied clearance to a group of top UP officials totravel to the US to negotiate the purchase ofan aircraft for the state government.
There was no need to go abroad for this purpose, UP was told late last year. Today, the Mayawati government formally called off the visit by Chief Secretary A K Gupta and the principal secretaries for Civil Aviation and Finance. The Cabinet decided instead to invite representatives of Hawker Beechcraft Corporation to India to negotiate the deal. The Mayawati government wants to buy one of Hawker Beechcraft’s top-line 900 XP jets, costing around $15 million.
This will beMayawati’s third aircraft purchase since coming to power on May 13, 2007.
The government bought a Beechcraft Premier and a Bell 412 helicopter last year.
14/01/09 Alka Pande/Express India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Jan 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2009