Dera riot: Airfare soars to Rs 19,000, DGCA warns airlines to keep check

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Sunday asked airlines to keep ticket prices in “check” on flights to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur after noticing that passengers were being charged high fares in the wake of some disruption in road and rail transport services in Haryana and Punjab.

An uneasy calm prevailed on Sunday in both the states where curfew was relaxed at some places that were hit by violence in the aftermath of the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case on last Friday.

While some airlines have been allowed to operate additional services to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur from Mumbai and New Delhi, state-run Air India has been asked to explore an additional flight to Jammu from Delhi and back, a senior DGCA official said.

Airlines flying in and out of the violence-hit Punjab and Haryana have also been advised to keep a check on the airfares on these sectors following the skyrocketing ticket prices noticed on flights on certain routes, the official added.

According to the official, the economy class fares for a two-way flight to Amritsar from Delhi for today were as high as Rs 19,800, while for a return flight to Chandigarh from the national capital, ticket prices were hovering between Rs 4,414 and Rs 18,063.

Similarly, the economy class airfares for a return air journey to Jaipur from New Delhi today were between Rs 3,760 and Rs 14,334 and that for Jammu between Rs 13,600-16,000.

Even the fares for a two-way journey to Chandigarh from Mumbai were selling between Rs 8,100-8,900, the official said.

The ticket prices for flights to these destinations for tomorrow were also quite high with Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi air journey costing a passenger up to Rs 18,200 and to Chandigarh from Delhi and return pegged at Rs 4,338-14,499.

The DGCA has already cleared one additional flight by full-service carrier Vistara to Amritsar from Delhi and returns for today and one each additional flight on Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi and Delhi- Amritsar-Delhi routes of the airline for tomorrow, the official said.

Air India has been requested to explore a flight tomorrow on Delhi-Jammu-Delhi sector, the official said. IndiGo has informed it that the airline will mount additional flight on Delhi-Jammu-Delhi sector on Tuesday.

Train and inter-state bus services were suspended as a precautionary measure following violence in Haryana and Punjab by the supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda chief.