Airports regulator Bill unlikely to be cleared in Winter session

New Delhi: Before moving as External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee virtually forced the Union Cabinet to push the far-reaching Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to a newly constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) by saying that the Defence Ministry’s suggestions on the subject had been given a short shrift by the Civil Aviation Ministry. With the Cabinet still to clear the proposal, the crucial AERA Bill is unlikely to be cleared by Parliament this winter session. The new GoM to be headed by Mukherjee is still to hold its first meeting.
The AERA proposal came before the Union Cabinet on October 16. With private players coming up to manage airport infrastructure, the proposal empowers the proposed regulator to fix tariff, including landing charges, for each airport on the basis of existing facilities so that investors gets a fair return.
02/11/06 Shishir Gupta/Indian Express

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