Govt owes Air India over Rs 1146.86 crore for VVIP charter flights
NEW DELHI: The total outstanding of cash-strapped Air India towards government for VVIP charter flights stands at Rs 1146.86 crore, according to the latest response from the national carrier to an RTI application.
According to the details furnished by the Air India on September 26 to applicant Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), the defence ministry has outstanding bills of Rs 211.17 crore, Cabinet Secretariat and PMO Rs 543.18 crore and external affairs ministry Rs 392.33 crore.
Some of the oldest pending bills for the visits of the President, the Vice President and the evacuation flights are nearly 10-year-old, the data furnished by Air India says. In a previous reply furnished in March this year, the total outstanding bills were at Rs 325 crore + on January 31 which have now risen to Rs 1146.86 crore, it shows.
Chartered aircraft for VVIPs - President, Vice President and Prime Minister - for their visits abroad are provided by Air India, which modifies its commercial jets to suit the needs of the travelling dignitaries.
The bills for these aircraft are paid from the exchequer by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Cabinet Secretariat.
The Comptroller and Auditor General had flagged the issue of pending payments from the government to Air India in its report in 2016.
"Hence considering the significant quantum of pending dues and in the context of government support to AIL for turnaround, more efforts need to be made for early action for reimbursement of dues by both AIL and government," it had said.
Batra said some of the outstanding bills are pending since 2006 but even the CAG observations have not deterred the government to clear them.
The debt burden of the national carrier, which is grappling with tough business conditions, is estimated to be more than Rs 50,000 crore.
Earlier this year, the government's efforts for strategic disinvestment of debt-laden Air India failed to take off.
Air India is staying afloat on a bailout package extended by the previous UPA regime in 2012.
Courtesy: timesofindia
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
