As part of the ongoing series of meetings with States and UTs on giving further thrust to the Civil Aviation sector in the country, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister  of State(I/c)  for Civil Aviation  on Monday held another high level meeting with minister and officials from seven states.

Puri Ministers, Chief secretaries of West Bengal, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

Along with laying stress on the need for reducing VAT on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) with immediate effect it was also informed by the Secretary, MoCA that the ministry has been requesting GST council to consider ATF to be brought within the ambit of GST and states support was also requested in this matter so that Domestic Airlines can sustain their commercial operations.

The other important issues as below were discussed and brought to the fore possibilities of further expansion of Kolkata and Durgapur Airports, strategy for Flight operation from Coochbehar RCS Airport, issues related to development and airport expansion of Bagdogra Airport, request from state government to start seaplane operations from Digha; a detailed status update of the new airports in Uttar Pradesh was also discussed.