Tripura govt seeks Centre’s intervention to cap airfares in northeast

AGARTALA: The Tripura government on Wednesday sought the Centre’s intervention to regulate airfares in the northeast, considering its geographical location.
Transport minister Manik Dey demanded the Centre’s immediate intervention to reduce airfares of all the airlines operating in the region and also increase the number of flights to and from Agartala.
“The UPA government had deregulated the aviation sector.Despite repeated requests, the new government has also not paid any attention to vital issues like transport and communication,” said Dey.
The government-aided Air India has been selling tickets on the Agartala-Kolkata route, covering only 310 km at Rs 10,000 and private airlines sometimes sell tickets at Rs 13000-15000 on the same route.
Similarly, on the Agartala-Guwahati and Agartala-Imphal routes, airlines are charging exorbitant fares.
People from other parts of the region are also facing difficulties, as except Guwahati, no other town in the region is well-connected with railways.
“The state government has repeatedly urged the ministry of civil aviation and director general of civil aviation to put a reasonable cap on airfares in the region considering its remoteness. But nobody has taken any step yet,” added Dey.
More than 90% flights from Agartala have been flying with full passengers.
However, private airlines always argue that they are incurring losses, though fares in the northeast are the highest and travel distance lowest in the country.
“The state government has also written to all carriers operating from Agartala to keep their fares affordable, but they have refused to do so despite doing maximum business from the state,” said Dey.
Dey said the Northeast Frontier Railways did not start working in Tripura in the first phase gauge conversion work between Badarpur to Agartala.
“We are still requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up work in the Badarpur-Agartala section along with the Lumding-Silchar sector, so that Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur are connected with railways within six months.
However, we have been asked to wait for two years,” Dey added.