New Delhi, Dec 5 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak Bill 2024 by voice vote.
The Bill would replace the 90-year old Aircraft Act. It provides for regulation and control of the design, manufacture, maintenance, possession, use, operation, sale, export and import of aircraft.
Lok Sabha had already cleared the bill. The new bill retains most of the provisions of the old aviation law.
Replying to the debate on the bill in the Upper House, Union Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu defended the Hindi name of the bill saying that the intention was to just create identity of the language.
“There is no Constitutional violation in it,” he said.
During the discussion on the bill, some members had raised concerns about the name of the Bill being in Hindi.
“With colonisation a small cocoon developed. Now under Prime Minister Narendra Modi we want to break that cocoon and bring the butterfly out and show the colours of true India and that’s what we are doing,” Naidu said.
Participating in the discussion on the bill, DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu said that the Centre should refrain from naming bills only in Hindi and Sanskrit. She asked the government to change the bill’s name to “Aircraft Bill, 2024”.
On the concerns raised by members over a spike in airfares during the busy season, the Minister said that a large chunk of the airfare goes towards fuel prices, and the taxes on the fuel are decided by the State government.
He asked members to request State governments to reduce taxes on fuels to reduce airfares.
Speaking on the provisions of the bill, Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose said that there was no provision in the bill for reasonable tariff.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP Haris Beeran termed the bill as “Old wine in new bottle”.
While moving the bill in the House for discussion, the Aviation Minister had said that there are 800 aircrafts in the country.
“We are looking at how to build our own aircraft here. We are looking at how to skill our own people so that they don’t need to go abroad and come back and work in the civil aviation industry here,” Naidu said.
The Minister said that the new bill has organised everything and contains clear sections on powers of various regulatory bodies such as Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
