The call sign of Indian planes "VT" does not mean "Viceroy Territory", replied Minister of State for Civil Aviation Vijay Kumar Singh on Monday in Rajya Sabha.Member of Parliament Harnath Singh Yadav on Monday sought a reply on whether the Government has taken cognizance of the fact that during the British Rule, the aircraft of India had been given the VT code, by the International Air Transport Association which means "Viceroy Territory".
In a written reply, Singh said the call sign "VT" was assigned to India during the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington, 1927 signed at Washington on November 25, 1927.
"VT" does not mean "Viceroy Territory" and call signs close to India or Bharat such as I, IN, B, BH, BM or HT are already assigned to other countries," he replied.
However, if the "VT" call sign is changed, all documents have to be reissued, aircraft will have to be repainted and cannot fly till such time that all markings are changed. The aircraft will remain grounded during the whole process and will also have a huge financial implication on the airlines and the civil aviation sector, he added.
On being asked whether Government has taken any action for acquiring any code displaying nationalism (Indian sentiments) to replace "VT", the symbol of slavery, Singh replied that International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has allotted three series of call signs to India i.e. ATA-AWZ, VTA-VWZ and 8TA-8YZ.
"Call sign could be the 1st one or two letters of the series. As per the provisions of Annex 7 of the Chicago Convention, our country had the options to choose its call sign from above three series for Indian registered aircraft," the minister informed.
( With inputs from ANI )
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