NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya owned Kingfisher Airlines today submitted new flight schedule to DGCA, according to which the beleaguered airlines will operate 28 of 64 aircraft for now. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had given a 24-hour deadline to come up with a "realistic" flight schedule on Tuesday ruling out any immediate punitive action to avert further difficulties to air travellers even as the carrier scrapped 40 more flights.

"The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours," DGCA chief EK Bharat Bhushan told reporters after the regulator quizzed Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and top officials on how they plan to get the crisis-ridden airlines back on track.

The cash-strapped carrier, facing the wrath of Income Tax authorities which have frozen its bank accounts, was operating only 28 of its 64 planes, leading to large-scale disruption of its schedule for the fifth consecutive day.

At least 40 flights were cancelled across its national network on Tuesday.

"To be on the safer side, we have decided to go for safety surveillance of all of their operating aircraft," said Bhushan.

Asked whether DGCA was contemplating cracking the whip on Kingfisher, he said, "Let us not talk of punitive action at the moment. We are more interested to see the airline back on its feet. Our priority is not to punish ... because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face."

A day after he ruled out any government bailout for Kingfisher, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said Government would have to hear them out.

"We have to hear them out. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normalcy. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer," he said.

Under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, airlines need prior approval of DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. Any violation can amount to cancellation of the flight permit of an airline, as an extreme measure.

After the two-hour meeting with Aggarwal and the airlines executive vice-president Hitesh Patel, Bhushan said DGCA, which had summoned them to explain the large-scale disruption in operations and the reasons for it, also wanted know why payment of salaries has been delayed.

Meanwhile, coming to the rescue of bleeding company, the State Bank of India (SBI), has decided to extend a Rs 1,650-crore relief package. — PTI

BURDWAN (WB): Two senior CPI (M) leaders, including former party MLA Pradip Tah, were today hacked to death by suspected Trinamool workers in Burdwan town of West Bengal during a procession to drum up support for the countrywide February 28 industrial strike call.

The attackers armed with spears, rods and lathis attacked Tah and CPI (M) district committee member Kamal Gayen at Dewandighi area in the town, Burdwan Superintendent of Police S. A. M. Mirza told reporters.

Gayen was rushed to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and Gayen to a Kolkata hospital, where both died of their injuries, Mirza said.

Police sources said four Trinamool Congress supporters from Mirzapur area, Choton Chakraborty, Patitpaban Tah, Suji Tah and Gopal Goswami, had been arrested.

The police is searching for some more attackers, the sources said.

Reinforcements were rushed to the area in view of high tension.

CPI (M)'s district committee secretary Amal Haldar said the killing of Tah, a former MLA from the Burdwan North Assembly constituency and Gayen, "was cold-blooded murder by the Trinamool Congress which was now isolated from the masses." The processonists were also protesting yesterday's attack on CPI(M) workers at Deondighi allegedly by Trinamool Congress men.

CPI (M) has called a 12-hour bandh in Burdwan district tomorrow to protest the killing. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Rifts in the Indian cricket team widened after stand-in-skipper Virender Sehwag publically took a dig at regular captain MS Dhoni on Tuesday.

The controversial rotation policy, which has sparked of a heated debate among critics and speculation of a rift within the team, took a more confusing turn with Virender Sehwag saying he did not know that fielding abilities had anything to do with it.

In an apparent dig at skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sehwag had said that he or any of the senior players had never been told that their `slow fielding` was an issue.

"I did not know what he (Dhoni) said and what`s going on in media. He told us he wanted to give chance to youngsters who had come here and play the next World Cup. That`s what he told us," said Sehwag.

Dhoni, after the crushing defeat against Australia in the ongoing tri-series, had stated the three senior openers -- Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir -- were not being picked together in the tournament because they are slow and could be costing the side at least 20 runs.

NEW DELHI: Salaried employees earning up to Rs 5 lakh a year will not be required to file income tax returns from this year, says a Finance Ministry notification.

There are about 85 lakh salaried persons in the country whose yearly income, including earnings from other sources like bank deposits, does not exceed Rs 5 lakh.

"An individual whose total income for the relevant assessment year does not exceed Rs 5 lakh and consists of only income chargeable to income-tax under... salaries ...(and) income from other sources, by way of interest from a saving account in a bank, not exceeding Rs 10,000" have been exempted from filing the returns from assessment year 2012-13", it said.

Exemption from filing will be permitted only if the person has received a certificate of tax deduction in Form 16 from his or her employer.

To claim income tax refund, however, such persons will have to file returns.

Prior to the notification, it was obligatory for all salaried persons to file income tax returns under the Income Tax Act, 1961.

It is felt that in cases where there are no other sources of income, filing of a return is a duplication of existing information, sources said.