New
Delhi: The Naresh Chandra Committee on civil
aviation has in its second and final report recommended
expansion in the airspace capacity and modernisation
of infrastructure facilities at the Delhi and Mumbai
airports, apart from strengthening security, to
meet the increasing air transport demands. Minister
for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said the Government
has accepted the report and that the new civil aviation
policy based on the report will be formulated by
the end of the year.
The Central Government had constituted the committee
headed by Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary,
in July 2003 to prepare a framework for the expansion
and modernisation of the aviation sector to help
the Government formulate a new civil aviation policy
to equip the country face growing domestic demands
and international competition. The terms of reference
of the committee were: Restructuring of the airports
to develop a world class airport infrastructure;
affordability and connectivity in the domestic sector;
development of regional air connectivity; mechanism
for providing air service to interior areas and
operation of economically unviable but socially
essential routes; regulatory mechanism for technical
and financial issues; promotion of general aviation;
aviation security; aviation safety; and, aviation
training.
The first part of the committee’s report was released
in November, 2003. It covered air transport services,
privatisation of airports, traffic control etc.
Based on the report, the Government has already
initiated the process of restructuring Delhi and
Mumbai international airports. The final report
also suggests enactment of a new civil aviation
security Act and steps to streamline the procedures
for immigration and customs clearance, apart from
modernisation and expansion of infrastructure. It
seeks restructuring of the Directorate-General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) and amendments to the Aircraft
Act 1934 (for licensing Air Traffic Controllers),
Aircraft Rules 1937 and other Regulations.
The committee feels the Indian airlines would face
increasing competition from Dubai, Singapore, Kuala
Lampur and Colombo, Japan and China in the near
future. It wants the government to expedite liberalisation
of air transport services, beginning with allowing
domestic airlines to utilise the unused entitlements
in the present air services agreements, especially
with regard to all destinations with high traffic.
-Nov 2, 2004
