The Madhya Pradesh Flying Club (MPFC) has decided not to avail the grant of Rs 2 lakh per annum given to it by the state government from this year. MPFC Secretary Milind Mahajan confirmed the decision to DNA.
"For over 24 years, from 1958 to 1982, the club successfully maintained and operated aircraft belonging to MP state government. An annual aid of Rs 10 lakh that the club used to get was stopped in 2001. From 2007 till 2010, grant was restarted albeit on a lower slab of Rs 2 lakh per annum. The government did not keep up to its promise of increasing this sum. This despite the fact that we pay huge taxes to the government," Milind said. Annoyed over the government move, the club, which has turnover of Rs 3.5 crore, decided to register protest by not availing the grant.
The grant issue is one of the several ones plaguing the club. Right from its inception on October 9, 1951, the MPFC has been facing issues of clearance, licence, subsidy and a fleet of unusable aircraft. The club has also been mired in controversies with the latest one being when flight operations were closed at Indore airport for non-payment of hangar charges and at Bhopal for not having a chief flying instructor (CFI).
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had banned entry of club's officials, students and staff into Indore airport for non-payment of hangar maintenance charges in April this year but things changed after a meeting was convened by AAI with Aero Club of India and MP Sumitra Mahajan in this regard. "The AAI has now allowed us to resume our activity," said Milind. The club has, however, decided not to pay these charges.
The genesis of this controversy lies in a subsidy agreement that Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had entered into with 40 or so clubs affiliated to Aero Club of India way back in 1966. The DGCA paid the clubs in cash the land, hangar and hourly subvention claims.
Things changed in 1991. Nil lease was charged by DGCA for the hangar at Indore airport and after formation of National Airport Authority (NAA), control of airports passed on to this agency. In 1982, NAA was replaced with AAI. In a review carried out in 2007 for bolstering revenue, a 10 % duty was levied for landing, parking, route navigation and facility (RNFC) charges. In 2009, a notice was served by AAI levying 10 % more duty on what was already being charged since 2007. Protesting this move, MPFC moved the High Court in March this year, terming it as 'financial harassment'.
The subsidy agreement with both DGCA and state government still remains a controversial issue. The agreement with DGCA and enhanced according to CAR'M' is valid up to March 23, 2012 for both Indore and Bhopal. The official website of MPFC and DGCA both display this date with no change in status. MPFC officials however claim the same has been renewed till 2013.
The state government grant, which the club has now refused to accept, too has been a subject of controversy. The grant was resumed after nine years when the son of then Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni was offered concession for training as a commercial pilot. The flying fee charged from him was `4100 per hour compared to `6200 per hour for others. The club had claimed at that time that resumption of grant by government was just a coincidence and not because they had given a concession to relatives of government officials.
Later, Lokayukta had ordered a probe against Sahni. Another issue that had led to the flight operations coming to halt for several months at Bhopal was resignation of CFI Captain Majid Akhtar. Akhtar had resigned following allegations as to how he could instruct pilots as he himself had failed the re-current training programme conducted in the US. MPFC then took permission from DGCA to allow PII Nikhil Bakshi to assume command in his place.
