A member of the consultative committee for Ministry of Civil Aviation and Navsari MP, CR Paatil, has sought inclusion of Surat airport under the National Civil Aviation policy to cap fares at Rs.2,500 per passenger for a one-hour flight.

Power producers have made a fresh appeal to the Centre to release a coal linkage policy soon. They have argued the coal linkage policy announced by the previous UPA government had covered 78,000 MW to be commercially operational by March 31, 2015.

Aviation regulator DGCA is likely to come out with fresh guidelines on block hours, a yardstick for on-time performance, to remove disparity among airlines. Block hours refer to the moment a commercial aircraft leaves the departure gate until it lands and reaches the arrival gate, or till its engines are working.

The Economic Survey 2015-16 has warned against a system of green financing in India that focuses solely on renewable energy and instead also wants investments in greening of coal power.

The government is working on a new civil aviation policy which seeks to provide connectivity to the smaller cities even as domestic air traffic has been on a growth path the last year, President Pranab Mukherjee said

Former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, under whose watch the Civil Aviation Ministry had framed the 5/20 rule, has strongly defended the regulation that insists that Indian airline companies must operate within the country for five years and have a fleet of at least 20 aircraft before they fly on the more lucrative international routes.

The government has announced the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge competition for financing during this financial year. Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu said that the winners were from 11 States and the Union Territory of Delhi and the selection was totally objective and transparent based on standardised processes.

Despite stiff political hurdles, Nitin Gadkari-led Road and Highway Ministry hopes to soon push the long pending Road Safety Bill in the upcoming Parliament session.

The Finance Ministry is considering infusing more than the announced Rs.70,000 crore in public sector banks to help strengthen their balancesheets.´