London, 17 October 2014

Britain-based overseas Gujaratis want direct flights between Britain and Ahmedabad in India’s Gujarat state.

“If you really want business to expand, you must have direct flights to Ahmedabad,” Mahendra Jadeja, secretary general of the National Congress for Overseas Gujaratis in the UK, attending the two-day Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in London that got under way Friday, told RAY.

He cited that 46 percent of the Indian diaspora in Britain come from Gujarat.

Jadeja said that just before the last general election in India, his organisation had made a representation to Ajit Singh, the civil aviation minister in the previous Congress-led UPA government, on the matter.

The minister, Jadeja said, responded by saying that the demand “is very valid” and had asked the secretary in his ministry to follow up.

However, the BJP government, Jadeja claimed, had done nothing about it; and the feedback he had received was that it was “uneconomical” to have direct flights to Ahmedabad.

-IANS/RAY