New LTC rules: Employees can take private airline to travel to Jammu and Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Central government employees have been permitted to travel to Jammu and Kashmir by private airlines till September this year, as per new Leave Travel Concession ( LTC) rules

Existing norms allowed them to travel by Air India only.

The Centre had in 2014 eased LTC rules to allow the employees to travel by air (only by Air India) to visit Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern states and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

For visiting J-K, the government later decided to allow travel by private airlines under a special dispensation scheme.

The scheme was, however, valid for a period of one year that expired on November 27, 2015.

It has now been decided to extend the scheme for a further period till September 25, 2016, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.

Air travel by private airlines is to be undertaken in Economy Class only, it said.

A government employee gets to and fro journey cost reimbursement when he avails LTC.