Amid Row Over Migrant Train Order, Minister Talks Federalism For Flights

Union minister Hardeep Puri today issued a reminder to the Centre about cooperative federalism, saying flights should not be landed in states without the approval of the state governments. His comment came amid the ongoing Centre versus state over special trains for migrants.

"It is not upto @MoCA_GoI or centre alone to decide on resuming domestic flights. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the govt of states where these flights will take off & land should be ready to allow civil aviation operations," Mr Puri, who handles the civil aviation portfolio tweeted today, hours after the Centre scrapped the need for approval from states receiving migrants, which earlier was mandatory.

The Centre's move -- alongwith its accusation that some states are denying permission for special trains - have created grounds for a face-off with states like Bengal, Bihar and Karnataka.

So far, three states have indicated reservations about receiving migrants for various reasons.

Citing a hike in coronavirus figures, Karnataka has stopped the entry of people from other states earlier this week. Bihar has said unlike other states, 8 per cent of its returning migrants have tested positive for coronavirus.

Bengal has asked the railway ministry to freeze incoming trains for two days in view of the cyclone Amphan, which is expected to make landfall in the state tomorrow. But long before that, the Centre had accused it of refusing to allow incoming trains.

Sources told NDTV that the Central government is in the final stages of plans to resume flight operations in the country.

"The minister himself is very keen to start operations but there is resistance from some state governments," a senior official in the government said.

Two states which involve a maximum number of flights, are not open to idea of opening up skies yet.

"There was resistance from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra Chief Ministers as they feel it is not feasible to allow people to come in and out of cities that are already combating virus at such a major scale," a senior bureaucrat in government told NDTV.

Mumbai already has more than 20,000 cases of coronavirus- the highest in any city in the country. A chunk of the cases in Tamil Nadu - second only to Maharashtra in terms of numbers - is from Chennai.

Airports have already geared up to allow contact-less check-ins. "Passengers will receive a ticket bar code, which will give them access to the airport. No baggage tag on inflight or check-in luggage will be used," said an official dealing with security set-up at the airports.

There are talks of computer-generated baggage tags, failing which passenger.