Question : Portal for Security Clearance

(a) whether the Government proposes to launch a portal for security clearance related works for various entities in the sector as part of efforts to improve the ease of doing business and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Tata Group and other Corporates have formally shown an interest in Air India’s stake sale and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(c) whether the Government has planned to spend $10 billion to develop airport infrastructure in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the civil aviation sector has achieved parity with the Railways in terms of turnover and the number of passengers and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps being taken by the Government to expand air connectivity among tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the country?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) Yes, Madam. With a view to streamline the process and procedure for seeking security clearances in a time bound manner, the online portal http://esahaj.gov.in has been developed and launched for some of the categories of application for security clearances pertaining to Ministry of Civil Aviation and its attached offices w.e.f. 01.12.2017.;

(b) M/s Interglobe Aviation Limited have shown interest in acquiring the airline operation of Air India and Air India Express;

(c) No, Madam.;

(d) No specific survey has been done in this regard. However, based on the available data, the turnover of Indian airlines industry during 2015-16 is estimated to be Rs 1.5 lakh crore(including foreign airlines serving in India), which is close to the revenue of Indian
Railways(Rs. 1.68 lakh crore) during the year 2015-16. The total number of airlines passengers in India during 2016 was approx 11 crores while the total number of passengers on Indian Railways'' air conditioned coaches was approx 12 crores. ;

(e) The Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched Regional Connectivity Scheme(RCS)-UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme on 21.10.2016 for providing connectivity to unserved and under-served airports of the country. The primary objective of RCS is to facilitate/ stimulate regional air connectivity by making it affordable. Airports Authority of India(AAI), the implementing agency has issued Letter of Award for 27 proposals of five Selected Airline Operators to operate from 43 RCS (12 under - served & 31 unserved) airports in first round of bidding under RCS-UDAN. Second round of bidding under RCS-UDAN has been commenced from 24.08.2017.