YSRCP opposes privatisation of airports in AP

Rajamahendravaram: Rajamahendravaram MP and Civil Aviation Parliamentary Standing Committee member Margani Bharat Ram opposed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill-2021 stating that it will lead to horrible situations in future.

Bharat Ram participated in the meeting related to the bill in New Delhi on Thursday. He said that the bill only benefits the concessioners but not the passengers. The MP added that previously AAI made a statement in 2019 that Vijayawada and Tirupati Airports would be privatised and "we all opposed that statement."

He said that Rs750 crore was allocated for expansion and modernisation of Vijayawada Airport and Rs 200 crore was earmarked for Tirupati Airport.

Bharat Ram wondered how AAI and the Ministry justify giving these and similar other airports to private players after investing nearly Rs 1,000 crore for their expansion and modernisation. He said,"We have 6 airports in the State and 3 of them are international airports.

All of them are loss-making, if you look at the financial status as of 2018-19."

The MP said that Rajahmundry Airport which falls within his Parliamentary constituency is also incurring loss of Rs 32.84 crore. If this bill becomes an Act, the Civil Aviation Ministry will hand over all these airports to private players either through bunching or pairing. "And, we have been seeing how airports under the control of private players are charging passengers left and right," he said.

He wondered why AAI wanted to get rid of these airports. He said that there are 9 airports in Gujarat which are also loss-making, including Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. He commented that why the airports in Gujarat were not handed over to private players.

He said that the NITI Aayog has given some guidelines on handing over airports to private players. And these guidelines clearly indicate not to give more than two airports to any airport developer. "How do AAI and the Ministry justify bundling of airports and giving them to private players?

Is it not against the policy of GOI," he questioned.

He said that the Bill is silent about the fate of employees working in airports which are going to be given to private payers. What assurance that the Secretary and AAI would give to the Committee about the safety and security of the employees working in all airports under AAI.

He said that the fastest growth in the aviation sector is recorded in 6 years between 2014-15 and 2019-20. "We have been able to increase air traffic from 6.1 crore to 13.7 crore, with a growth rate of nearly 15 per cent.

He said that in AP, the growth has gone up from 28 lakh in 2015-16 to 55 lakh in 2018-19, which is much higher than the national average. But, during the pandemic period, the Indian airlines are going to incur loss to the tune of Rs 8 billion with decreased passenger traffic," he said.