Dinasena Ratugamage
Several reasons including fuel crisis in India and currency exchange issues have affected the delay to commence flights operations between India and Jaffna which was planned to start from July 1 Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said. However the minister assured that all necessary steps will be taken to start those flights immediately.
The minister also mentioned that there are some constraints such as the fuel crisis that India has to face these days, the inability to charge sufficient fares for flights and the loss in currency conversion, India refrained from conducting flights to Jaffna on July 1 as previously discussed.
The Minister further stated that both the countries have approved to start a boat and ship service between Jaffna and India, but it has been affected by the few problems for air travel and said that as an alternative, they will try to start air services and ship services once a week.