New Delhi, August 28
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has grounded his predecessor’s ambitious plan to buy a dedicated VVIP squadron of long haul aircraft, which would have cost almost Rs 1400 crore.
Instead, the Ministry of Civil Aviation will now lease an extra aircraft for the PM’s dedicated use which will cost between Rs 40 and Rs 50 crore and will be available to Air-India (AI) when not in use for the Prime Minister.
A Cabinet note has been drafted to this effect and will soon be put up before the Cabinet for formal approval. This follows widespread disruption of Air-India’s commercial schedule each time the Prime Minister takes to the skies.
During the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States, nearly 35 scheduled AI flights were disrupted. And when he travelled to Kabul in Afghanistan,
a similar disruption would have taken place.
The disruption happens because two aircraft are pulled out of the AI stable 10 days in advance because the seating is reconfigured and the Special Protection Group “sanitises the aircraft from the security
point of view”.
While this is an inescapable problem, given today’s security environment, it plays havoc with AI’s commercial schedule.
The issue had been hanging fire for years because no Prime Minister wanted to be seen gifting himself goodies. Even when the NDA government cleared a proposal to buy a special aircraft on the lines of the United States’ dedicated aircraft for the President (Air Force 1), the then Prime Minister did not concur with it.
Sources reveal that Dr Singh, a man of austere habits,
who even refused to use the Prime Minister’s specially modified BMWs, was not convinced of the need for such a huge expenditure.
Says a senior minister: “We are a country that can afford to buy a special aircraft for
the Prime Minister but Dr Singh was firm.” With AI’s commercial interests getting affected, the Prime Minister finally accepted the lease option with its cost being
substantially less.
