PM to review 100-day work of ministries on Sep 27

Civil aviation ministry is expected to inform Narendra Modi about the locations where the first five no-frills airports will come up

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting to assess the work done by various ministries during their first 100 days in office.

 

The meeting, scheduled to take place on September 27, will be convened by Principal Secretary to PM Nripendra Mishra.

 

A senior official in the ministry of civil aviation said: "The meeting has been scheduled to assess the work done by various ministries in their first 100 days in office. An action taken report (ATR) also has to be submitted by end of this week."

 

The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) - which was set a target to commence development of five no-frills airports and award management contracts at four airports to private operators - will outline progress made on the specified projects.

The ministry is reported to have identified the locations where the first five no-frills airports would come up. These include Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Hubli and Belgaum (Karnatak).

 

The ministry also moved forward on regaining an upgrade in safety ranking from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), which has agreed to audit India again. A fresh audit is likely to fetch Category I for India, as the US regulator is satisfied with the work done by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

 

The ministry has also launched 'know-your-rights portal' to provide information regarding rights of passengers in cases of delays, cancellation and denied boarding, lost, delayed, misplaced and damaged baggage; and on matters related to booking, airfare components and refund of air tickets.

 

Besides these initiatives, a draft policy on remote and regional connectivity has also been evolved, which would aim at granting various concessions and incentives to airlines to fly to unserved and under-served areas in the country.

 

A discussion paper has also been prepared to give a boost to the air cargo and MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) sectors. The ministry is in the process of consulting stakeholders and experts to finalise policy guidelines and take other measures like tax concessions and regulatory steps in this regard. For facilitating cargo transportation, off-airport facilities are proposed to be created to handle export and import of goods away from the cargo terminals.