Agartala, Jan 15 (PTI) Expressing concern over "exorbitant" air ticket prices on Agartala routes, Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury on Wednesday assured the state assembly that he would take up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The assurance came after senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman raised concern over the high prices of air tickets on the Agartala routes.

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“The prices are quite exorbitant with an air ticket being sold at Rs 8,000 or Rs 9,000 if a person wants to travel to Kolkata within the next four days! I urge the transport minister, who is trying to bring down the air ticket price, to take up the matter with the Centre. People are the worst sufferers of the situation”, Roy Barman said.

While replying to the Congress lawmaker, the minister said he was also equally concerned over the matter.

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“Based on media reports, I have consulted with the Director of MBB Airport here to know the pros and cons. He told me that 30-40 per cent seats of an aircraft are sold at a base price while 30 per cent seats are offered at a higher rate and 20 per cent at a premium rate," he said.

Claiming that air ticket prices on Agartala routes remain under ‘base price', he said the government has nothing to do with the ticket price as the process has already been "decontrolled".

"However, I will take up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation," the minister said.

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) monitors the ticket pricing through a mechanism- Tariff Monitoring Cell, Chowdhury said.

"It appears that air ticket prices remain under base price if a passenger buys it 10 or 15 days before travel. Anyway, I will take up the issue with the Ministry again," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)