SpiceJet offers rock-bottom fares, flyers' body writes to DGCA

June 22, 2016

Gurgaon, Jun 22: Hotting up the low-fares war among airlines, SpiceJet today rolled out a new scheme offering base costs as low as Rs 444 on some destinations on its domestic network with a select booking period and limited number of seats.spicejet

No sooner did the no-frills carrier announce its 'Monsoon Bonanza Sale', flyers' body Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) wrote to aviation regulator DGCA, seeking to know if it was mulling any action on such "bogus" schemes by airlines.

The five-day sale launched today will be open till the midnight of June 26, the airline said, adding the travel period under the offer stands between July 1 and September 30.

The SpiceJet promo one-way base fare of Rs 444 are for select sectors, including Jammu-Srinagar, Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Mumbai-Goa, Delhi-Dehradun and Delhi-Amritsar routes.

Fares would vary according to sector, depending on the travel distance and flight schedules, and timings are subject to regulatory approvals and change(s), it said. Besides SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Air Asia India had recently come out with similar low-fare offers.

Alleging that the airlines were "taking for a ride" the passengers with such schemes, APAI wrote to Directorate General of Civil Aviation to raise concern over the issue.

"This has reference to the advertisement released by SpiceJet in today's news papers ... We started getting complaints from as early as 10.20 AM from many of our members stating that no such fare is available even for short distance of less than 500 km," APAI founder and national president D Sudhakara Reddy said in the strongly-worded letter.

According to APAI, its members found that most of these fares offered in the flash sale are for flights originating from Delhi and for nearby destinations such as Amritsar, Chandigarh, etc.

"We then asked our office to try for other destinations. (Here also) even in the first half of the day when the advertisement has appeared, no such fares are available. So what is the logic for such offers?," APAI said.

"We strongly believe that these are nothing but gimmicks and the gullible passengers are being taken for a ride (in the name of such low fare schemes," he said.

Reddy, in his letter, also sought to know the "action" the DGCA intended to take over such offers by the airlines.

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News Network
May 2,2020

New Delhi, May 2: With 2,293 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of cases in a single day, India's COVID-19 tally reached 37,336 on Saturday, including 1,218 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As many as 71 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total number, 9,951 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

In the state of Maharashtra, the number of coronavirus positive cases has crossed the 10,000-mark with at least 485 deaths.

The positive cases in Maharashtra has reached 11,506, including 1,879 discharged cases.

After Maharashtra, Gujarat has the most number of COVID-19 cases (4,721). The state has reported 236 deaths, while 735 people have been discharged.

The Centre on Friday extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown for two more weeks with effect from May 4 till May 17 while allowing different sets of relaxations in red, orange and green zones.

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News Network
July 18,2020

Golaghat, Jul 18: A total of 96 animals have died in the Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat district of Assam due to floods, the state government informed on Saturday.

"So far, 96 animals have died in the park including eight rhinos, seven wild boars, two swamp deers, 74 hog deer and two porcupines," park officials said.

A report from the government of Assam stated that a total of 132 animals had been rescued from the Kaziranga National Park. The park is currently 85 per cent submerged under floodwaters.

"Water level at Pasighar and Dibrugarh are below the prescribed danger level. The floodwater in Numaligarh, Dhansirimukh and Tezpur are still above danger level," the report stated.

At least 76 people have died and nearly 54 lakh people have been affected in 30 districts of Assam due to floods caused by the monsoon rains and the rise in water levels of the Brahmaputra river, informed the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Friday.

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Agencies
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has termed the government decision to freeze Dearness Allowance of Central government employees for a year as "insensitive and inhuman."

The former Congress President in a tweet said: "Lakhs and crores are being spent on the Bullet Train and New Delhi's Central Vista which should have been suspended, but the government has deducted DA of Central government employees and pensioners... It is insensitive and inhuman."

"The tragic part is that by deducting this amount from January 1, 2020 up to 30th June, 2021 for a period of 1.5 years, the government of India proceeds to deduct almost Rs 38 thousand crore from the income of these middle class government employees and pensioners, who rely completely on the pay and pensions that they receive," said Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson of Congress.

There are about 50 lakh such serving government employees and about 62 lakh pensioners.

"Even more tragic and objectionable is the fact that the government of India has not even spared our armed forces. The government has deducted Rs 11 thousand crore of the 15 lakh serving armed forces personnel and nearly 26 lakh military pensioners. What is their fault? They are serving the nation in times of all types of crises," said Surjewala.

The Congress alleged that the government did not spare the savings scheme.

Instead of curbing the wasteful expenditure, the government has been constantly hitting at the income of government employees and the middle class, it added.

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