Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jan 28, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jan 28, 2006 |
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Infrastructure Logistics - Airlines Bids not opened as AAI employees protest Our Bureau
ON HOLD FOR A WHILE: Mr K. Ramalingam, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, gestures to the protesting employees of AAI in the Capital on Friday. — Ramesh Sharma
New Delhi , Jan 27 THE Ministry of Civil Aviation today resembled a war zone with a sea of AAI workers laying siege to the building, protesting against the Government's move to modernise and restructure the airports in Mumbai and Delhi. Watching from the sidelines in full riot gear and carrying tear gas shells and batons were police personnel just in case things went out of hand. Even `Vajra' and `Varun' - two motorised water canon vehicles - were in position. Around 11.15 a.m. almost two hours after the protest began, the AAI Chairman, Mr K. Ramalingam, and the Member (Finance), Mr V.D.V. Prasad Rao, came to talk with the CPI (M) Member of Parliament, Mr Dipankar Mukherjee, and other trade union leaders. "We are coming after speaking to the Secretary Civil Aviation. No bids are being opened today. They will not be opened today, tomorrow or day after," Mr Ramalingam told the striking workers. But the workers wanted more and demanded to know when exactly the bids would be opened, why they had not been taken into confidence and why there was total lack of transparency in the process. All questions for which the AAI senior officials had no answers. "This is what we have been told. We are not involved with the process. This is with the Government," the two senior AAI officials pleaded. Realising that the plea was not cutting much ice with the workers, the two senior AAI officials retreated. Earlier, senior police personnel also met with little success when they tried requesting Mr Mukherjee to call off the agitation. "This Government cannot work like this. We are allies of the Government," Mr Mukherjee said even as the striking workers raised slogans against the Government and senior AAI officials. Eventually, after striking for more than five hours the agitation was called off. However, by then they had extracted an assurance - the workers would be consulted before a final decision is taken on the bids.
`Bids may be opened on Sunday'
The Government could open the financial bids for restructuring and modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports this Sunday. While officials maintain that no decision has yet been taken, some of the bidders participating in the process told Business Line that they have been asked to be on "standby" for reaching Delhi on Sunday. "Are you asking me or are you informing me about what decision the Government has taken. I know nothing and have heard nothing," a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation said when contacted for a comment.
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