The Hindu : AAI employees call off stir

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003

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AAI employees call off stir

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI SEPT. 23. Employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), protesting the Government's decision to privatise the Delhi and Mumbai airports, today called off their six-day-old nation-wide agitation.

The decision came after representatives of the AAI Employees Union and AAI Officers Association had a marathon five-hour meeting with the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, and top officials. It was decided to set up a committee to look into the issue, mainly relating to the job security of the employees as and when the joint venture with a private party comes up to manage the Delhi and Mumbai airports — the two international hubs for travellers to and from India.

"Following the decision to form the committee to discuss all issues, we have called off our agitation and deferred other proposed industrial actions," M.K. Ghoshal, general secretary of the AAI Employees Union, said.

Mr. Rudy told reporters that the committee would be constituted soon and comprise officials of the Ministry, the AAI, and two representatives from all the recognised AAI unions. It would try to evolve a consultative mechanism on the progress of post-restructuring at the Delhi and Mumbai airports and similar projects later at other airports. The Civil Aviation Secretary, K. Roy Paul, and senior AAI officials besides representatives of half a dozen recognised AAI employees' unions were present at today's meeting. The AAI employees had threatened to go on mass casual leave on September 25.

The AAI employees had gone on a relay hunger strike to protest the Union Cabinet's approval on September 11 to restructure the Delhi and Mumbai airports through the joint venture route by forming a JV company in which the AAI would have an equity holding of 26 per cent and 74 per cent to be contributed by the private partner. The airports at Delhi and Mumbai would be given on concession to the JV partner for an initial period of 30 years. It was also decided that the employees working at the existing airports would be initially transferred to the JV company on deputation for three years with the option to return to the AAI at the end of the deputation period or get absorbed in the JV company.

The two international airports at Delhi and Mumbai are the busiest and most profitable with traffic growing at a rate of 5 to 5.5 per cent annually. In 2002-03, nearly 70 per cent of the AAI's profit came from these two airports.

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