TBM Staff - Mumbai “Work has been awarded for implementation of Biometric Boarding System (BBS) by using facial recognition technology at six airports namely – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Varanasi and Vijayawada. The project is at the trial stage. Upon successful completion, the same will be implemented across other airports in the country in a phased manner,” informed VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in Lok Sabha.
The minister also informed that Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to invest around INR 25,000 crore in next 4-5 years for expansion and development of existing and new terminals, using modern technology.
Singh, in a separate written reply, stated that the government has received Regional Connectivity Fund (RCF) levy of INR1,904 crore till now. A levy of INR 5,000 is collected per scheduled flight from airlines on certain routes to fund the regional connectivity scheme (RCS).
“Till now, a total of INR1,904 crore has been received as RCF levy and viability gap funding (VGF) of an amount of INR1,253 crore has been disbursed,” the minister said.
In response to another question on whether the government is aware that many passengers have not yet received refund of credit shell amount from airlines for tickets cancelled during the lockdown year, Singh replied in the affirmative. (source The Mint)
