|
NEW DELHI: After a year of battling
allegations of underworld links that even grounded its plans to cruise into
American skies, Naresh Goyal finally has a reason to smile. Civil aviation
minister Praful Patel on Thursday gave Goyal a clean chit in the matter saying
the government has no indication as yet of his airline Jet Airways being
financed by the underworld.
Patel’s statement, made in
Parliament on Thursday, is expected to clear tarmac for Jet’s much-delayed
debut in US skies. The airline is targetting to take off for US in the summer of
2007 — which is a new two-year delay from its previous
plan.
Patel said Jet Airways was issued a scheduled operator’s
permit to carry out flights in the country on February 13, 1995, as it met the
minimum requirements for issuance of such a permit.
“As of
now, the security clearance of ministry of home affairs does not indicate any
such (underworld) linkage,” he said in response to a question on whether
government had any information that Jet Airways is financed by the
underworld.
In response to another question about the security
clearance of its directors, Patel said all the directors on Jet’s board
are security cleared. He added that a few instances have come to the notice of
government when airlines, including Jet Airways, appointed directors without
waiting for security clearance. “These airlines have been advised by DGCA
to be more careful and adhere to the guidelines for appointment of
directors,” the minister said.
This comes as a big boost for
the airline, which had to ground its proposed flight to US after an American
namesake raised the issue of Jet’s underworld funding and alleged that it
was linked to al-Qaida.
The matter was later raised by US
transportation authorities, and even sought a clarification from India. Though
India is yet to officially respond to the US query, government sources pointed
out that Patel’s clean chit would go in Jet’s favour. |
