Pakistan charges India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges of Modi's flight

Narendra Modi

Pakistan has billed India '2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian Air Force aircraft used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia, Afghanistan, Iran and Qatar, an RTI response shows.

The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application, show that till June 2016, Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the Prime Minister's visits to 11 countries - Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore. Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses, received from August last year to January 30 2018, to PTI.

During one such visit on December 25, 2015, Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan. For this, a bill of '1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges, records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan show. Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport, when he made the stopover on his way back home.

Dec 25, 2015
Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pak PM Nawaz Sharif

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates