The Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG)’s report on the Antrix-Dewas deal is eye-opening. It has accused the former ISRO Chairman and certain other retd. senior officers/scientists of ISRO who formed the private company Dewas of using ‘Public Investment for Private Profit’. The deal between the ISRO company Antrix and Dewas   has been cancelled, but if it was implemented, government would have lost thousands of crore of rupees.

This is a symptom that is being surfaced one after another. In the name of Public-Private-Partnership(PPP), the assets of the government/Public Sector are being transferred to the private companies. So far there was no separate Airport charge for passengers. Now hundreds of rupees are collected by the private airports at Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. from the passengers. Earlier the road toll was nominal but now the private companies have started collecting huge charges. Just like the handing over of the nations’ scare natural assets like water, mines, spectrum etc. at throw away prices to the MNCs and private companies, now roads and airports are also handed over. What they will hand over tomorrow have to be seen.