Centre is ignoring Rajasansi: Sidhu

Talking to newspersons here,he showed the copy of a letter that he wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel,appealing to them not to re-route the Amritsar-London-Toronto Air India flight from Delhi. Sidhu also had a request for the Akali-BJP government in Punjab,as he demanded that the “exorbitant VAT” on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) be cut.

“Airlines have to shell out Rs 6,000 more on per liter of ATF in Amritsar as compared to Chandigarh. This is a major disincentive and dissuades them from starting operations from Rajasansi. In terms of one flight,it translates into a loss of Rs 3 lakh,” said the cricketer-turned-politician,adding that he would take up the issue in Parliament during the next session.

Once a small airport with barely two to three flights in a week,the Rajasansi airport had seen many international and domestic operators starting flights from here in the last five years. From 15 flights a week a decade ago,the airport saw 150 flights operating in 2008. The civil aviation ministry had responded by initiating a massive infrastructure upgrade programme for the airport. But the slide began in 2009,when during the worldwide recession,many operators,including Singapore Airlines,Jet,Air India,Go Air and Kingfisher,either totally cancelled or curtailed the frequency of their flights. In the last five years,around Rs 400 crore has been approved to upgrade the airport.

A few weeks ago,the state Congress had alleged that the Akali-BJP government was deliberately letting the Amritsar airport become irrelevant and instead promoting the upcoming airport at Chandigarh and a proposed one at Bathinda. The Congress had said it was being done to enhance the property prices of land in proximity to these airports,where the family members of ruling dispensations allegedly have considerable ownership stakes.