Congress leader Venugopal, Civil Aviation minister Scindia in Twitter spat over airfares

NEW DELHI: The Twitter war between Congress leader K C Venugopal and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia continues over the latest rise in airfares and other affairs involving India’s civil aviation sector.

Venugopal, in a long tweet, slammed Scindia saying the current government has been incapable of curbing price rise and preventing predatory behaviour on the part of airlines.

“FYI, here’s what a hands-on approach looks like: there has been an increase in fares, mostly, for routes that were earlier being serviced by GoFirst”, Scindia responded, adding that his ministry not only took cognisance of the issue quickly, but also intervened by sending strict advisories to airlines to self-regulate fares.

.@kcvenugopalmp Ji continues to cherry-pick facts, and forgets the step-brotherly treatment given to civil aviation during the UPA Govt rule.

1. FYI, here’s what a hands-on approach looks like: there has been an increase in fares, mostly, for routes that were earlier being… https://t.co/OxlxQMpx3H pic.twitter.com/m0mauf8712

— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) June 12, 2023

The airline operator GoFirst had in early May filed for voluntary insolvency and since then, its operations were kept stalled, which led to the hike in airfare in some routes.

“The DGCA is closely monitoring the same. Fares have reduced by up to 60 per cent, and are likely to decline further”, he added in the tweet.

A portion of the routes that were earlier being served by GoFirst, which is under stress now, have already been allotted to other airlines, Scindia said earlier.

“There has been a considerable decline (in airfare) after the ministry stepped in”, claimed Scindia, attaching images of airfares of various operators operating in key routes. (ANI)