When members raised the issue of development fees being levied in privatised airports such as in Delhi and sought abolition of such fees, he said the government had already constituted the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority entrusted with the responsibility of deciding on the issue. Members pointed out that while it was the responsibility of private players to develop the airports, they were charging the passengers for the work.
Latur and Nanded in Marathwada region of Maharashtra would soon be on the aviation map with the launch of flights from this metropolis to these towns, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said.
The civil work in T3 has been completed as per schedule on March 31 and extensive on-the-job trials of the facilities were being carried out by the airport operator involving over 10,000 personnel from all the service providers, including CISF, Immigration, Customs, airlines and other stakeholders.
The government will blacklist contractors who are responsible for delay in ongoing projects of airport modernisation."Tenders for capital work are not being issued to the contract agencies responsible for delay in projects," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Lok Sabha. Patel said the terminal building projects at Jaipur, Udaipur, Srinagar, Vizag and Agatti have been delayed.
Jet, Kingfisher rebuff Praful Patel, budget carriers reduce fares. As of now, though, the two private airlines remain steadfast in their refusal to cut fares even as Patel's pleas acquire a hint of aggression.
The Union civil aviation ministry would take up the issue with the finance ministry, Patel said, expressing the hope that the latter would respond favourably to the civil aviation ministry's representation.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday that the impasse between the Congress and the Nationalist Congres Party over formation of government in Maharashtra will end on a positive note by Thursday.
According to the package, the dues will be cleared in six monthly instalments by March 2009. Current ATF purchases will get 90 days' credit, supported by bank guarantees. Also, jet fuel price revisions will henceforth happen every fortnight. Praful Patel on Thursday admitted in the Lok Sabha that it may take another two months to make the recently-opened third runway at the Delhi airport fully operational.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it wants to see the country's national team breach the top 100 of the world football rankings within three years.
Patil, Patel, Bhujbal, Awhad and their colleague Dilip Walse Patil in one voice said they will not accept Pawar's decision. A few party functionaries even tendered their resignations on the spot to put pressure on the 82-year-old politician, while some workers suggested that a working president be appointed.
The next meeting of opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, the Congress announced on Monday, and asserted their resolve to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party has been strengthened by the 'Mumbai operations' of the 'BJP washing machine'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Union minister Piyush Goyal, as well as its senior leaders Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections to six seats from Maharashtra, and senior party leader Devendra Fadnavis asserted that all of them will win.
Construction activities for modernising and expanding the Kolkata and Chennai airports by the Airports Authority of India will begin by the end of next month, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. Replying a question on the government's recent decision to allow charging of user development fees by the private operator of the new Hyderabad airport, Patel said "We are considering the same for the new airport at Bangalore."
The Air India building has 22 floors overlooking the Arabian Sea. Many floors are already leased out to other companies and it represents one of the costliest commercial real estate in both the city and the country. Air India made losses of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in 2008-09.
The detention of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan at an American airport continued to spark outrage in the country on Sunday with the government saying the action was "offensive" and unacceptable and that it will "strongly" take up the issue with the United States.
That's a surprise since his protege Praful Patel has shouted down requests this week
"There is every reason for Air India to respond quickly. The management, the employees, all will have to come out with a proper restructuring plan," he told reporters outside Parliament House. Patel said government support cannot be taken for granted. "It cannot be open-ended. However, the government is committed...We want a strong national carrier," he said.
Aviation experts say the existing airports cannot be viable.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel on Thursday expressed confidence that India would win the right to host the Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 despite facing strong competition from the other three bidding countries.
The crisis in Maharashtra government after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation is expected to draw to a close with the intervention of Union Agriculture Minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday.
A crucial meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party Legislature Party will be held in Mumbai on Wednesday to discuss the political situation in the aftermath of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation from the Congress-NCP alliance government in Maharashtra. The Legislature Party of NCP will meet at 2 pm on Wednesday.
The move came after civil aviation minister Praful Patel warned it was time to act against any move towards cartelisation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation shot off letters to all scheduled domestic carriers asking for information regarding the recent hike and transparency in airfare advertising, saying it should be furnished by Saturday.
Private airlines collecting taxes from travellers other than the passenger service fee will be penalised and made to refund such money, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Lok Sabha on Thursday. Patel made it clear that the government did not regulate the air fare levied by Airline companies. The government only levies Rs 221 as passenger service fee which is used for security of airports and to cover other related expenses, he said.
Sulking Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday skipped the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the honour of outgoing President Pratibha Patil.
The Nationalist Congress Party has decided to pull out of the UPA government and support it from outside in protest against the way the party was treated by Congress, creating fresh trouble for the ruling coalition.
Reaching out to sulking Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday hailed him as a "very valued colleague" and said his knowledge, wisdom and experience are a "great asset" to his government.
Government considers a proposal to give sops to airlines for linking metropolitan cities and small towns, Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Even though Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will move this proposal only on Thursday in the Cabinet meeting, the government is already going ahead with the proposal regardless of the response from other concerned ministries like finance, environment and forests, and tourism and the planning commission.
India's infrastructure sector alone can absorb more than $150 billion of foreign direct investment over the next five years.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday pitched for jobs for the locals while inaugurating Piaggio's Vespa plant in Baramati, saying it was a lacuna that needed to be filled. He made the comments in the presence of Piaggio Chairman and Managing Director Roberto Colaninno, with whom he shared the dais.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is taking legal opinion on the tapped phone conversations of ministers and high-ranking officials in which they were purportedly discussed ways to save the police officials booked in Ishrat fake encounter killing case.
The minister, while speaking at the event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Wednesday, said the problems at AI did not come up overnight. The airline's high-cost structure and the compulsions of being a public sector unit had been the reasons and it had been making a loss, he said. AI is to incur a loss of over Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) this fiscal year.
The event witnessed the who's who of Maharashtra politics -- including three former chief ministers of Maharashtra.
Some of the prominent United Progressive Alliance ministers on Sunday came under fire from Team Anna at the fast venue of Anna Hazare with the activist's close aide Arvind Kejriwal claiming that cases could have been registered against 14 ministers if there was a Lokpal.
The Sharad Pawar camp described the ruling as a "murder of democracy" which would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said that resignation of his deputy Ajit Pawar from the state ministry will not affect the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ties.
"There was a drop of 30 per cent in passenger load factor leading to losses in many top airlines in the world including British Airways. But last quarter of 2009 has again raised some hopes of revival in the country," Patel told reporters in Nagpur on Monday.
Aviation Minister Praful Patel has requested FM to rationalise taxes on aviation fuel in Budget 2008-09.
The directorate general of civil aviation has shot off a letter to all airlines seeking details of the sudden and steep fare hikes announced on Wednesday. The move came close on the heels of civil aviation minister Praful Patel's remark that the ministry was against cartelisation, widely believed to be behind the latest fare hikes.
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