The civil aviation ministry on Friday wrote to the Bengal government ur-ging it to reconsider its stand that domestic flights to the state from cities with high Covid prevalence be suspended for two weeks from June 6.

Sources said there was a discussion over the phone between officials of the ministry and the Bengal government, but the state apparently refused to reconsider its stand.

“The state government does not want flights from the cities where the number of coronavirus cases is very high. We can reconsider the decision after two weeks,” said a state government official.

Last Tuesday, chief secretary Rajiva Sinha had written to the Centre, requesting it not to schedule any domestic flight to the state from places that had a high incidence of Covid-19. In the letter, Sinha pleaded for suspension of flights for two weeks from July 6 from cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad and Surat to Calcutta and Bagdogra.

The Telegraph reported on Friday that passengers and airlines were confused as no decision had yet been taken by the ministry on whether to operate flights from these places to Calcutta after July 6.

In Friday’s letter, the civil aviation ministry said if the flights to Calcutta and Bagdogra were suspended, airlines would have operational problems in connecting to many other destinations, particularly in the northeast, sources said.

Calcutta now has 65 to 70 flights taking off every day. A similar number of flights are arriving. There are around 10 flights from Delhi and four from Mumbai.

Sources said the Centre was trying to negotiate with the state government over whether the number of flights could be curtailed for two weeks from these cities so that passengers could at least travel.