NGOs address the issue of high airfares

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 22

With the Jat reservation agitation virtually cutting off North India from the rest of India, the apathy of the government towards the sky-rocketing airfares and “irresponsible” behavior of the airlines has made the situation worse. Airlines operating in the region have virtually inflated the airfares to travel from Delhi to North India by five to 20 times the normal airfares. Even as the airlines have decided to make hay while the sun shines, leaving the common man at the mercy of God, the central government has closed its eyes to the problem and has given these airlines a free run to exploit the hapless passengers. Minister of Civil Aviation, GOI, or the DGCA have taken no steps whatsoever to keep a check on these airlines who are blackmailing the innocent passengers.

The issue was raised in a press conference by Mission Aagaaz, Amritsar Consumers Welfare Society and Voice of Tobacco Victims today. The press conference was addressed by Gurbhej Singh Sandhu, Deepak Babbar, Dr Prahlad Duggal, Chandrashekhar Sharma, Dr BR Hastir and JS Gill.

“Consider the plight of a patient whose relatives have to take him to AIIMS for treatment. With all the rail and road routes blocked, the family will be left with no option but to spend a few lakhs on air travel. For those who can’t afford all this, they will be forced to discontinue their treatment at AIIMS or at other higher institutes. A cancer patient from Punjab undergoing treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, will miss his/her next dose of chemotherapy,” said Dr Prahlad Duggal while interacting with mediapersons.

“NRIs coming to Punjab are a harried lot, who, after landing at the Delhi airport, take a taxi to travel to Punjab. They are being forced to buy air tickets at exorbitant rates. Their hardships have been compounded by very limited number of international flights coming directly to the Amritsar airport. This is a slap on the face of a government which is trying to woo the NRI community to invest in India. They have to face blackmail just on entering their native country,” said Gurbhej Singh Sandhu. “Why the central government has given a free run to these airlines?” is the question, people of the region are asking. Why a common consumer has been left to fend for himself and suffer? All this is happening because it seems that the Civil Aviation Ministry is hand in glove with these airlines,” he added.

All the representatives of NGOs appealed to the central government and the DGCA to take urgent action and minimize the misery of the common man by bringing these airfares under check. “Also, the government should enact a law to prevent future blackmailing by these airlines. Also the government should try to bring the situation under control at the earliest, so as to end the ‘bure din’ of common man,” said Gurbhej.