Aviation Minister Explains Why Domestic Airfares Are Not Coming Down: Checkout The Reasons!

On Thursday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in his tweet targeted states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi for steep air fares.

In a tweet, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas asked: “Ever wondered why air ticket prices haven’t come down?”

He said that “Aviation Turbine Fuel constitutes about 40% of the cost of airline operations. But West Bengal, Maharashtra & Delhi impose massive 25%+ VAT on ATF while BJP states UP & Nagaland & UT of J&K charge just 1%”.

“Hypocrisy” of Opposition Rules States : Puri

Puri, calling the entire row as “hypocrisy” of opposition-ruled states, he further said that PM Modi wants to ensure that the air travel is affordable to the common man, but said that “these states create impediments”.

Puri added that “They manufacture protests against ‘oil prices’ but fleece the people to fill their coffers”.

The Friction Between Centre & Opposition-Led States

Centre had previously called upon the opposition rules states to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel. However, they did not pay any heed to the same. Hence, on Wednesday, PM Modi raised the issue and asked states to work “in the spirit of cooperative federalism” in this “time of global crisis”.

He said, by not passing these benefits to the common man, these states are not just doing an “injustice” but also harming neighboring states.

The states of Maharashtra and West Bengal hit back at this, saying that these states are being given a “step-motherly” treatment.

Accusing the centre of being step motherly to state of Maharashta, CM Uddhav Thackeray said that the centre owned 26500 crore to the state. He also added that it is not the state government was not responsible for the rise in prices of petrol and diesel.

CM of West Bengal, hit back at PM Modi, questioning him when will the center clear the pending dues that it owed to the state. She added that she would reduce the tax on the petroleum products more than the BJP-ruled states.