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Airports of state-owned AAI are leased out in the public interest for their better management, and the revenue received from them is also utilised for the development of airport infrastructure across the country, Union Minister VK Singh said on Monday. Currently, there are 13 airports that are being operated under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Out of them, 8 airports belong to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the remaining 5 belong to the respective state governments. "Implementation of PPP at airports has been a success story... PPP at airports has also helped AAI in enhancing its revenues and focusing on developing airports at Tier-II and Tier-III cities," Singh, who is the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, told Rajya Sabha. In written replies, he said that airports of AAI are leased out in the public interest for their better management, utilising private sector efficiency and investment. There are 146 operational airports, water aerodromes and heliport
India loses more people in road accidents than in a war, Union Minister General (retd) V K Singh said on Friday. Addressing an event organised by industry body Assocham, Singh said road safety is the most important issue which the government needs to tackle. "More than 1.35 lakh people lose their lives due to road accidents every year...this number of people whom we lose every year (due to road accidents), is worse than fighting a war," the Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways said. The minister lamented that unfortunately, road safety is considered something that comes once a year. "We have road safety week. We upgraded it to road safety month," he said, adding his view is that it should be a 365-day affair. "It's not confined to one week, it is not confined to a month because there is so much at stake," Singh emphasised. According to recent government data, total 3,66,138 road accidents occurred in India during 2020, causing 1,31,714 deaths.