The Hindu Business Line : Aviation, tourism inter-ministerial group to be set up

A major dispute between the two is over the Tourism Ministry refusing to pay commercial rents for the space being used by it at international airports.

New Delhi , Aug. 10

THE Government has decided to set up an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on Civil Aviation and Tourism to facilitate greater co-ordination between the two Central Ministries.

Following a meeting between the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, and the Tourism Minister, Ms Renuka Chowdhary, here on Tuesday, it was also decided to upgrade 22 airports in key tourist destinations at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.

The tourist centres covered under the proposal include Khajhurao, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Dehradun, Bhubaneswar and Thiruvananthapuram.

Talking to presspersons after the meeting, Mr Patel said that the process of modernising the airports in Delhi and Mumbai had already been set in motion while Chennai and Kolkata would be next in line. The Government is also in the process of developing new airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad in partnership with the private sector.

"The plan to upgrade non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be set in motion by early 2005," Mr Patel said, adding that he expected the completion of the process by December 2006.

The Civil Aviation Ministry also decided to appoint Mr V. Subramanian, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor to both the Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministries, for arbitrating all the disputes between the AAI and India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

A major dispute between the Ministry of Tourism and the Civil Aviation Ministry is over the former refusing to pay commercial rents for the space being used by it at international airports. Besides duty-free shops, ITDC has been operating several counters and kiosks that provide services such as taxi bookings and hotel reservations, besides booths that give tourist information.

Following the meeting between the two Ministers, a proposal was cleared under which ushers will escort passengers right from the parking lot or the porch, where a cab may drop them, up to the aircraft after passing x-ray screening for baggage, check-in counter, immigration counter and various other security hurdles.

It will be a paid service, mainly beneficial for unescorted children, elderly or the physically challenged.

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