Shahnawaz Hussein, the young minister at the helm of Civil Aviation is at the receiving end of Assam’s anger. It is not without provocation. The national carrier, AIR INDIA, intends to withdraw the under one year old Guwahati-Bangkok flight, which was started amidst fanfare to save a few rupees.

So, cutting across party lines, Assam legislators asked the Gogoi government “to bring pressure on Delhi   to allow status quo and to protect Assam’s and north-east’s interests”.

The issue figured in the Assam assembly during the Zero Hour. Pranab Kalita, Independent, drew the attention of the House to the reported AI move based on newspaper reports. Soon all sections of the House joined the protest. In fact, the Speaker Prithbi Majhi had shot of a protest letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister for DONER and Civil Aviation Minister.

Participating in the discussion the AGP legislator Dilip Kumar Saikia stated the grounding   the Guwahati-Bangkok flight would be a very frustrating one. “It would send a wrong signal to the people of the region who are already fed up with ‘step motherly’ attitude of the Centre. The Central Government has the deplorable habit of ignoring democratic voice of protests from the region. The Centre only hears the sound of militants’ gunfire in the region”, Saikia stated in a sarcastic vein. In response, the Minister of State for Planning and Development, Himanta Bishwa Sharma informed  the House that the  Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had lodged a strong protest with  the Centre against any move to either ground or re-route the Guwahati-Bangkok flight which was launched in April last year.

He said the State Government had invested heavy investment to promote tourism in collaboration with Air India. It will go a waste, he said, recalling that the Air India had agreed to introduce the Guwahati-Bangkok flight only after the State Government assured it not to impose Sales Tax on the air tickets.

The   House was further informed that in the wake of the protest lodged by the State Government against move to ground the flight, the Air India authority recently informed that it had kept in abeyance its plan to go for route rationalisation in Mumbai-Kolkata-Guwahati-Bangkok sector.  However, the Air India letter did not make any commitment to continue with the operation of Guwahati-Bangkok flight on a  long-term basis. Members of the State Assembly have taken serious note of lack of commitment on part of the Air India vis-a-vis    continued operation of Guwahati-Bangkok fligh.

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