It will be wrong to put a deadline by when the Indian Government will finish and announce a civil aviation policy, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, said on Tuesday.

``Deadlines are very easy to have. If you want a meaningful policy then to put a deadline on it I think is silly as it would be as dead as the line. What we want is a vibrant policy. We are looking forward to it (the policy) which is currently in advanced stage of being finalised,” the Minister said at the inaugural of the Aviation ICT Forum 2015. The two day aviation summit is being organised by SITA.

Details of the civil aviation policy are currently being reviewed by a Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary. This is  to ensure that all the arms of the Government be it the Ministries of Finance or Home are in sync with what is being proposed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the nodal ministry piloting the policy.

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry has been working on a civil aviation policy for the last two decades but has failed to finalise it yet.  In late August this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a review of the policy during which he stressed on the need of considering the fiscal aspects of what is being planned in the policy on the Centre and states; he wanted this to be a part of the policy.

But despite the lack of a new policy successive Governments at the Centre have overturned previous decisions. These decisions include allowing foreign airlines to invest in airlines in India, a move that saw Singapore Airlines tie-up with Tata Sons to launch domestic carrier Vistara. In addition the private sector has also been encouraged to participate in the modernisation of airport infrastructure with the GMR group winning the bid to modernise Delhi airport in public private partnership mode in early 2006

(This Correspondent is in Goa at the invitation of SITA)

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