A Press Statement issued by CITU protesting Airports’ Privatisation is  given below:

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) strongly denounces the Government’s move to privatize 15 major airports in the country through so called public-private-partnership route as reported by the Press (Times of India of 4 July, 2013). Reportedly, the process is to start with inviting global bids for six airports viz., Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati.

It is surprising that, in this beginning round, Govt selected such airports, to hand over to private hands, which are having “substantial commercial activities” and higher revenue earnings; and where already huge investments have been made by the Govt through Airport Authority of India (AAI) for renovation and modernization.

Only for modernization and renovation of Calcutta and Chennai airports Rs 3700 crores have been spent by AAI and also thousands of crore of public money have spent for modernizing other 13 airports. And now, handing over the management and control of those airports to private hands, both domestic and foreign, leaving Govt-owned Airport Authority only earn rent/revenue tantamount to transferring of huge public asset virtually free of cost to private hands. Is the Govt entitled to fitter away public asset like that?

Most ridiculous is the Civil Aviation Ministry’s argument, quoted by the press, for such a retrograde move of handing over readymade modernized and high revenue earning airports to private players is that such an exercise would improve the management of the airports. Will those wise people say which agency in the country is having more exposure and experience of managing and running airports other than the Airport Authority of India? Or whether the game plan is for handing over the management and control of such vital infrastructure, involving national security like airports, to foreign players? The Ministry officials have also reportedly stated that they “are not being allowed to work at a fast pace” and hence let the private players rule on public asset and earn fortune without making any capital investment. This exposes the game plan further: Not to allow the Airport Authority of India to operate autonomously through bureaucratic interventions, give them a bad name and pave the way for private and foreign players to reign in. This can no way be in the national interest must be stopped forthwith.

CITU condemns such disastrous move to hand over the control of management of the vital infrastructure like airports to private hands reducing the Airport Authority to a virtual rent earning non-entity and urges upon to the Govt of India to stop such exercise of privatization of airports through PPP route which is highly detrimental to national interests.

CITU calls upon the trade union movement in the country and the workers and unions of civil aviation sector in particular to unitedly resist such move of privatization of airports.

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