West Bengal government accepts Centre’s air connectivity scheme with rider

• Posted in Aviation
• on November 9, 2016
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The West Bengal government today accepted the regional connectivity scheme in civil aviation as proposed by the Centre, but at the same time, threatened to pull out of it if the state had to bear in excess of the 20 per cent share as has been committed by the Centre under the Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
“The VGF is to be shared between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the state governments in the 80:20 ratio. We shall pull out of the scheme if the state has to bear in excess of the 20 per cent share as committed by the Centre,” state Transport Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said while briefing reporters on the outcome of a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport with the state government.
“The chief minister has discussed several issues relating to our state at the meeting. She has urged the MoCA to restrict the flight fare from un-served and under-served airports to Rs 2,500. The Centre will have to bear 80 per cent, while for the state, it will be a maximum of 20 per cent if the fare exceeds the limit,” Bandyopadhyay said. Stephen Gostkowski Jersey

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