New Delhi: The central government says it has no record of a recent meeting on the country's civil aviation policy, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by some of his Cabinet colleagues. Replying to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query, the aviation ministry said the discussions were informal.
"It is informed that the meeting on August 25 was not a formal one and, therefore, there was no agenda nor were any minutes issued," said the ministry's reply, dated October 14.
Besides Modi, the meeting, held at the Prime Minister's Office on August 25, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma. At the meeting, which reportedly went on for about three hours, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey gave a presentation on the draft civil aviation policy to the PM.
Earlier, it was decided a panel of secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, would be formed to discuss the key issues on which there was no consensus. However, four months after the aviation ministry decided to "completely re-write" its previous civil aviation draft policy, it is yet to be released in the public domain.
"The issues discussed included regional connectivity, the 5/20 rule (an airline has to have five years of operations and at least 20 aircraft to fly on international routes), bilateral traffic rights, code-share agreement, maintenance, repair and overhaul service, route dispersal guidelines, fiscal issues affecting the aviation sector, Airports Authority of India, new projects, the helicopter policy, aeronautical 'Make in India' and ground handling," the RTI response said.
24/10/15 Somesh Jha/Business Standard
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"It is informed that the meeting on August 25 was not a formal one and, therefore, there was no agenda nor were any minutes issued," said the ministry's reply, dated October 14.
Besides Modi, the meeting, held at the Prime Minister's Office on August 25, was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma. At the meeting, which reportedly went on for about three hours, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey gave a presentation on the draft civil aviation policy to the PM.
Earlier, it was decided a panel of secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, would be formed to discuss the key issues on which there was no consensus. However, four months after the aviation ministry decided to "completely re-write" its previous civil aviation draft policy, it is yet to be released in the public domain.
"The issues discussed included regional connectivity, the 5/20 rule (an airline has to have five years of operations and at least 20 aircraft to fly on international routes), bilateral traffic rights, code-share agreement, maintenance, repair and overhaul service, route dispersal guidelines, fiscal issues affecting the aviation sector, Airports Authority of India, new projects, the helicopter policy, aeronautical 'Make in India' and ground handling," the RTI response said.
24/10/15 Somesh Jha/Business Standard
