PTIAn Air India aircraftNew Delhi: The government owes cash-strapped Air India more than Rs 325 crore in unpaid bills for VVIP chartered flights to foreign countries, an RTI reply says. Of the Rs 325.81 crore in pending bills, as on January 31 this year, Rs 84.01 crore was carried forward from the previous financial year and the remaining Rs 241.8 crore generated this year, the airline says. The RTI reply said the foreign ministry owed Air India Rs 178.55 crore, followed by the cabinet secretariat and the PMO (Rs 128.84 crore), and the defence ministry (Rs 18.42 crore). It said that in addition to VVIP flights, this amount included unpaid bills of Rs 20.966 crore towards evacuation missions and the services offered to visiting dignitaries. The March 5 reply provided a break-up that showed that the dues from the President's flights was Rs 8 crore, that from the Vice-President's was Rs 198.254 crore and that from the Prime Minister's was Rs 118.724 crore.

Source: The Telegraph March 11, 2018 20:48 UTC