Punjab govt invites tenders to hire aircraft for VIPs, Oppn flays move

It has floated a tender to empanel well-established and financially sound air charter service providers for hiring the aircraft. The aircraft should be able to seat up to a minimum of eight to 10 persons, and will be required to be positioned and operate from the Chandigarh International Airport, according to the tender notice issued by the department of civil aviation

Chandigarh : The Punjab government has started the process to hire a Dassault Falcon 2000 fixed-wing aircraft for a year for VIPs in the state, drawing flak from the opposition parties.

The fund-starved Punjab government’s move has been criticised by the opposition, with leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa terming it “complete waste of state resources”.

It has floated a tender to empanel well-established and financially sound air charter service providers for hiring the aircraft. The aircraft should be able to seat up to a minimum of eight to 10 persons, and will be required to be positioned and operate from the Chandigarh International Airport, according to the tender notice issued by the department of civil aviation. The state government already has a helicopter, which is used by chief minister Bhagwant Mann and governor Banwarilal Purohit.

The tender says the company and the aircraft should meet all the demands as per the relevant civil aviation requirement (CAR) and other instructions issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from time to time. Preference will be given to the service provider, who is a holder of non-schedule operator permit (NSOP) holder with its own or leased fleet. The air charter service providers have been asked to apply for empanelment by giving detailed background of the company, numbers and type of Falcon 2000 aircraft in their fleet along with documents demonstrating financial soundness, list of clients served and charges. The last date for submitting offers for empanelment is October 31.

The fund-starved state government’s move has been criticised by the opposition, with leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa terming it “complete waste of state resources”. He said the cash strapped state was already grappling with revenue generation and rising debt trap and the AAP government was contemplating hiring a fixed wing aircraft. “What is the immediate need or requirement to hire the fixed wing aircraft when Punjab already has a Bell helicopter,” he said, pointing out that the state government purchased the five-seater, twin-engine Bell 429 helicopter in 2012 for ₹38 crore.

He said the aircraft hiring would cost the state exchequer ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2lakh every hour, besides 18% goods and services tax. “I believe the idea has come from none other than Mann’s political mentor Arvind Kejriwal,” he alleged.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has asked the CM why he was spending crores of rupees from the state exchequer to fund the air travel of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal. In a statement, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said a fixed wing aircraft was not needed for travel in Punjab because it had a small geographical area.

“The state government hired private jets twice at the cost of ₹44 lakh and ₹55 lakh, respectively, for each trip to facilitate Kejriwal’s electioneering trips to Gujarat. It seems the AAP convener wants to criss-cross the country and Bhagwant Mann has stepped forward to foot the bill on behalf of Punjabis,” he added.