Home Ministry refutes Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh CM's claim of not allowing chartered flights to land in Delhi

The G20 Summit, which is being attended by US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak besides other leaders of developing and developed countries, begins on Saturday.

New Delhi: A day after the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh accused the Centre of not giving approval to land their chartered flights at the Delhi airport, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on Saturday, refuted the reports saying all their four requests were approved.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel claimed that Delhi has become a no-fly zone now and expressed his inability to participate in the G20 Dinner at the Leaders’ Summit to be held in the national capital on Saturday. However, the Home Ministry clarified that the State Chief Ministers' aircraft are allowed.

Reacting to the matter in X, formerly known as Twitter, the Home Ministry said that while a high-tech security air cover has been deployed for G20 Leaders’ Summit at Delhi on September 8 to 11, 2023, “movement of Governors and State Chief Ministers on their State aircraft are allowed.”

The Home Ministry gave a similar response to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The MHA said that no request from Rajasthan CM has been denied. “In a news report, the Rajasthan Chief Minister has claimed denial of approval for his helicopter flight by the MHA. Four requests were received from CM Rajasthan for flight permissions, including for Sikar, and all were approved by the MHA,” the Home Ministry said on X.

“While all scheduled flights of commercial aircraft and movement of Governors and State Chief Ministers on their State aircraft are allowed, private chartered flights require specific MHA approval,” the MHA said in another post on X.

Earlier, the Delhi Airport issued a notice stating that during the two-day G20 Summit, only scheduled airline flights and special G20 summit flights will be permitted to land and take off at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. As per the notice, all other non-scheduled flights, including general aviation and non-scheduled charter flights, are prohibited from using the airport till the summit is over.