Aviation Ministry not taking action against Pvt airlines : Ministry
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
Agartala, October 22 2014:
The Tripura government today attacked the Union Ministry of Aviation was not taking action against private airlines which were charging abnormally high rate for air tickets operating on Agartala-Kolkata route.
Railway services from Lumding in Assam to Agartala was stopped due to a mega block imposed by the railways department for conversion of the railway tracks from meter gauge to broad gauge from the October 1, state Transport Minister Manik Dey said.
Taking advantage of this, private airline companies were charging undue prices from the passengers, the Transport minister told reporters here.
He alleged that despite informing the matter to the central government, no action was initiated against the private operators.
"We have repeatedly drawn the notice of central government about the issue.
The Government of India replied that air fares of domestic flights are determined by market forces and not by the central government", Dey said.
He added that most airline companies were planning to reduce or withdraw flights from Agartala-Kolkata route.
The Jet Airlines was known to be withdrawing service from the state altogether, he said.
Asked about the issue, Dey said that the state government wrote to Jet Airlines to increase number of flights on Agartala-Kolkata route.