Alliance Air to operate flights from Kochi naval air base
New Delhi/Kochi, Aug 19 : State-run Air India's subsidiary -- Alliance Air -- will commence operations from Kochi naval base to aide the rescue operations in flood-hit Kerala.
According to the airline, flight operations will commence from August 20.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu in a series of tweets said that due to disruption of flights from Kochi Airport, a joint team sent by the Ministry approved to commence scheduled flights by Alliance Air ATRs between Bangalore and Kochi naval air base.
Prabhu further said that more destinations, including Madurai, will be added soon and that other airlines are also likely to join the effort.
"In view of disruption of flights from Cochin airport due to floods, a joint team sent by @MoCA_GoI has approved starting of scheduled commercial flights using ATRs by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, between Bangalore and Cochin Naval Air base. #KeralaFloods," the Minister tweeted.
"The flight operations between Bangalore and Cochin Naval air base will be starting from 20th August morning. More destinations such as Coimbatore, Madurai are also in the pipeline. Other airlines are likely to join this effort too. All possible steps are being taken #KeralaFloods."
Earlier in the day, Alliance Air operated a proving flight to the Kochi naval base.
"As an exemplary initiative to fly out stranded people, AI's subsidiary Alliance Air operated a non-commercial proving flight on an ATR (turboprop) to Kochi's naval base with a team of DGCA, AAI and flight safety officials," Air India said in a statement.
"This whole exercise is aimed at confirming the feasibility of having Alliance Air operate more flights to Kochi's defence airbase with turboprops to evacuate passengers."
The development comes as the state reels under torrential rains and the worst floods the state witnessed.
The grim situation has left the state with only two operational civil airports at Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut, as operations at Kochi airport have been suspended till August 26 on account of rising water levels in the operational area.
The civil airport in Kochi is severely flooded and stands closed till August 26.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
