The Mumbai Airport Customs has sent an attachment notice, asking the airline to pay the pending Foreign Travel Tax.
The cash-strapped national carrier Air India has again run into rough weather.
The Mumbai Airport Customs has sent an attachment notice, asking the airline to pay the pending Foreign Travel Tax. The airline has not paid the tax in the last 10 years, which has now amounted to Rs2.44 crore and with interest the money due is Rs7 crore.
The Customs department attached the Air India cargo kept in the Customs’ bond warehouse. The notice was sent to the airlines on March 28 by Customs commissioner PM Salim. Salim confirmed the information saying: "Yes, we have sent an attachment notice to Air India and appropriate action will be taken.”
As the cargo includes aircraft parts, it will affect the passengers after it is attached.
"The cargo consists of important aircraft parts and if we attach it, AI would have to reschedule their flights which will affect passengers. Because it is a national carrier, we had been politely asking them to pay but they didn’t take it seriously so we had to take this drastic step," said a customs officer, requesting anonymity.
"The airline had not been paying tax for the last 10 years. Only after we attached its cargo, it paid the principal amount of Rs2.44 crore in two parts. The first installment of Rs1 crore was paid on March 31 of and Rs1.44 crore was paid on Monday," said a senior customs officer of the airport.
Customs has released the cargo but if the airline does not pay the rest, then it would attach it again. "We have the right to attach an aircraft too but we were not taking any such action as it is a national carrier," said the officer.
He said the airline initially tried to get some relief. "The airline had excuses like they carry VVIPs and it’s a national carrier. Now that it has paid the principal amount, we are trying to figure out a way to give it time but we need assurance of the rest of payment,” said the officer. Even after repeated attempts, DNA could not get in touch with Air India officials.
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