Ajit meets Sonia over first Indian aviation university plan

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the backdrop of a raging controversy over the Rs. 2,058 crore deal between Jet Airways and Etihad. HT reports.

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the backdrop of a raging controversy over the Rs. 2,058 crore deal between Jet Airways and Etihad.

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However, sources close to the RLD chief said he met the Congress president to invite her to lay the foundation stone of the country’s first aviation university at Fursatganj in Rae Bareli, Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency.

The National Aviation University (NAU) will train technical personnel, including engineers. It will start functioning at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy (IGRUA) from July next year.

A legislation to set up the NAU has been sent to the Union law ministry and the civil aviation ministry intends to bring this bill in Parliament soon.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is also in talks with the Uttar Pradesh government to get about 250 acres more so that the existing airstrip can have an aircraft maintenance engineering (AME) facility.