Left may halt airport upgrade plan

The government may go back on its plans for privatisation and modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports with increasing pressure from the Left.

The pressure intensifies this week with the Left functionaries expected to meet the prime minister and convey their unwavering opposition to the programme.

An official in the civil aviation ministry says the prime minister recently referred to a possibility of looking at alternatives to the modernisation plan. There have been concerns in the bureaucracy over the delay.

The project seems to have been caught in clearances, group of ministers, transaction and documents. Another concern is over the anticipated loss of revenue to the government as a result of handing over the airports to private parties.

The CPI-M had last week issued a statement urging the government to abandon the project. The Left is also expected to take up the issue with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, headed by CPI(M) member of Parliament Nilotpal Basu, has also recommended scraping of the privatisation model. The standing committee had suggested that the government instead built greenfield airports in the two cities.

The committee has also pointed out that the modernisation plan for the Mumbai airport could only enhance its technical capability by 10 to 15 per cent, which will become redundant in meeting the growth projections beyond 2012.

According to the Left, the government has overlooked several factors like sustainability of other airports, which are being financed by the profit earned by Delhi and Mumbai airports.

The Left was also concerned about the fate of employees at the two airports. They pointed out that the assurance given earlier by the government to examine the alternative proposal of the Airports Authority of India Employees Joint Forum had been ignored.

The ministry of civil aviation, however, is planning to go ahead with the project. According to Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad, the concerns raised by the committee are being examined by the government.

"The government had presented its view to the standing committee and is examining the objections raise by it," Prasad said.