New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Monday said that India is strongly opposed to any kind of sustainable measures that would restrict growth of India’s aviation industry, including the carbon taxation proposed by European Union states. Speaking at a directorate general of civil aviation international conference in Delhi, Singh asked participating countries to “oppose any unilateral environment measures imposed by a state or group of states like the EU emission trading scheme and work with the International Civil Aviation Organisation to evolve global environment protection on basis of equity and consensus following the broad consensus obtained in UNFCCC in this regard” in order to have a level playing field for emerging markets. Referring to India’s growing aviation market that is witnessing an annual growth of 9% at present, Singh said that the country was one of the least penetrated markets with a massive potential for further development that would further boost the country’s economy, it could not accept any binding obligations that would hurt the industry’s future. “In the next few years, we are looking at a double digit growth in the industry. We are a responsible nation and are taking measures to implement best environment practices. However, we also need financial and technological support from developed countries for implementing environmentally sustainable mechanisms in Indian aviation. The call for suppressing aviation growth to reduce its environmental impact is not acceptable to us as a solution. We need to facilitate growth of aviation along with finding innovative solutions to addressing environmental concerns,” he said. On the growth of civil aviation, Singh said the government is planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports and modernizing another 50 in the non-metro cities over the next few years. “About 50 non-metro airports are being modernised within the next two years and another 10-15 new greenfield airports are being planned. New policy in airport sector has now permitted up to 100% foreign direct investment in greenfield airports,” said Singh. Greenfield airports are those that are built completely from scratch.