Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said there should be maximum and cost effective use of air space and dismissed talk of differences between the Civil Aviation and Defence Ministries over the issue.
Responding to reporters’ queries after addressing a conference “Challenges that face Indian aviation”, Mr Patel said: “We are interested in the effective use of air space. There is no pressure on either us or the Defence Ministry over what should be done. Growth in civil aviation is demanding more air space. This issue has been hyped a little too much.”
There has been a cold war of sorts between the two ministries ever since the Aviation Ministry suggested that the Defence Ministry give up part of its air space to cater to the growing needs of civil aviation.
This was one of the recommendations in the civil aviation policy, which has now been referred to a Group of Ministers. The Minister also disclosed that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Bill would be introduced in the Parliament in the coming monsoon session.  It has recently been cleared by the Union Cabinet.
Training engineers
Mr Patel revealed that the Ministry was considering opening two institutes of the standard of the Indian Institutes of Technology to train flight engineers and technicians to address the shortage of skilled manpower in the sector.  Noting that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has floated an expression of interest or construction of airfields across the country, he said the air traffic control training institute at Allahabad would be upgraded.
Answering a question over the backlog of medical certificates to be approved for budding pilots, Mr Patel said the Ministry was considering allowing civilian doctors to certify.
“Right now, we don’t have many civil doctors with an aviation background.  We are thinking about allowing doctors outside the country like Singapore to certify. We are working on all these aspects and come out with decisions in 2-3 months.”
On the setting up of the GoM to study the policy titled “Vision 2020”, he said the ministry would “place before you the document in a few months”.
Speaking on the occasion, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security Commissioner S R Mehra sought framing of the Civil Aviation Security Act to take punitive action against those who breach security at  airports.