Sheekha Bureau
Port Blair, Oct 06: The President of Rotary Club of Port Blair, Dr. Dinesh has taken up the matter of astronomically high airfare in Mainland Port Blair sector with the Prime Minister of India.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Dinesh mentioned that the air tickets that were earlier available at a very nominal rate, sometimes even below Rs. 4000, now cost more than Rs. 10,000/ for one way between Port Blair-Chennai-Port Blair or Port Blair-Kolkata-Port Blair. Sometimes tickets are available at unbelievable price of Rs. 18500/ to Rs 44000/-which is just too exorbitant for any class of passenger, especially the middle class islanders and tourists. Stretcher patients referred to mainland for further specialized treatment at mainland hospitals are the worst sufferers as they have to pay about Rs. 80,000/- to Rs. 90,000/- or more for one way airfare.
He added that tourists often prefer to visit South East Asian Foreign countries than visiting Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the complete package tour to those countries are often cheaper than one way airfare to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“Nowhere in any other part of the country the airfare is so high for a two- hour flight. The hapless residents of remote A&N Islands suffer a lot every year during tourist season, summer vacations, festive season etc. We strongly feel that the airlines should be asked to charge only a flat rate of Rs 4000/- which should not exceed beyond that at any given time. The remote A&N Islands need to be treated at par with the north-eastern states where the airfares are quite reasonable and affordable,” the President of RCPB mentioned.
He added that the A&N Administration, sundry political parties, Chamber of Commerce and various organizations have tried their best to get justice for the cutoff islanders but nothing has worked to end their ordeal all these years.
“Since nothing has worked in favour of the islanders and the airline companies continue to fleece the passengers on this particular sector, the A&N Administration may be facilitated to at least run one chartered flight everyday to Kolkata and Chennai only for the islanders as a stop gap measure. For a permanent solution, subsidy given to mainland ship fares may be diverted to the faster and economical air transport. Even the DGCA direction to the airline companies to furnish various fare categories on first day of every month and furnish route-wise fares has failed to have any impact on the airfares in the Islands-Mainland sector. People here are compelled to pay through their noses to make up for the losses the airlines suffer in other mainland sectors. While the passengers pay a paltry fare of Rs. 5000-6000 for a two-hour flight between Delhi and Kolkata, the cut off islanders are forced to pay anything between Rs. 15000-40000 during the peak season that covers a major part of the year,” Dr. Dinesh added.
He further mentioned that IOC provides subsidized ATF (Aviation Turbine fuel) to aircraft making their return flights almost absolutely free.
“But even a fraction of the huge profit they earn is not passed on to the passengers. Bogus block booking also needs to be checked by the airlines in the system. A close watch on all travel agents is required, heavy fines should be imposed on them for violating the rule. Block booking should automatically get cancelled exactly after one hour, if one doesn’t purchase the tickets,” Dr. Dinesh pointed out.
