Janjivan Bureau / NEW DELHI: India has issued new norms barring unruly passengers from flying for a minimum of three months to more than two years depending on the nature of the misdemeanour, the government said on Friday.
The government has issued a no-fly list of unruly passengers after a lawmaker admitted assaulting an official from state-owned carrier Air India.
The new rules will be applicable to foreign carriers as well, the government said in a statement, adding that unruly behaviour has been categorised in three levels – verbal, physical and life threatening.
“The concept of no-fly is based on safety of other passengers, crew and the aircraft, and not just on the security threat,” the government said.
Road transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday warned Indian auto firms to switch to manufacturing vehicles that run on non-polluting alternative fuels or risk being ‘bulldozed’ by policies that the government will introduce in a bid to check pollution and imports, Mint has reported.
“You may not like it, but I wish it from my heart that your growth should be less. If this growth continues, I will need to add one more lane to national highways, which will cost a whopping Rs 80,000 crore,” Gadkari was quoted by the daily as saying. “We are going to go after diesel vehicles heavily. So don’t complain later and say you have unsold inventory if they are banned,” the minister added.
The government is looking at having an all-electric car fleet by 2030 and encouraging alternative fuels like bio-diesel, ethanol, and electricity. As a part of this initiative, State-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd has invited global bids for 10,000 electric sedans that will run up to 150 km on a single charge. The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan seeks to have 400,000 electric vehicles on India’s streets by 2020.
