NEW DELHI: Warning of a "full-fledged scam" in the privatisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday demanded that the process be scrapped and asked the government to adopt a transparent system.

"We are sorry it is happening under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom we consider an embodiment of transparency and probity. ... It is outrageous that the concept of transparency has been given the goby," CPI(M) MP Nilotpal Basu said at a press conference here. Last week, the party members staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha, expressing dissatisfaction over the response of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to the calling attention motion on the subject. They said the issue would be raised in the wake of fresh information that the government was planning to waive stamp duty for the transfer of the Mumbai airport to the private sector. "Roughly calculated, the stamp duty would amount to Rs. 250 crore," Mr. Basu said.

Terming it a "major irregularity," the party said the move to transfer Airports Authority of India assets in Nagpur to the private consortium was "extremely serious." Even though the exercise was at an advanced stage, the government did not refer to it in its written reply in the Rajya Sabha. That the government was willing to waive stamp duty became evident from Maharashtra's letter to the Civil Aviation Ministry on August 11.

Quoting Mahrarashtra's August 11 letter, the party said the State had agreed to the Civil Aviation Ministry's request to waive stamp duty on the transfer of the Mumbai airport.

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