The Hindu : National : Concerns of airport staff will be looked into, says Praful Patel

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Saturday, Feb 04, 2006

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National

Concerns of airport staff will be looked into, says Praful Patel

Special Correspondent

Job losses, if any, and displacement will be minor

— Photo: PTI

GARBAGE DUMP: A passenger sits on a luggage trolley beside scattered garbage outside the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Friday.

New Delhi: Speaking to reporters after the AAI employees' meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Friday, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the Government would stick to its decision on modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai Airports through private ventures but would address doubts raised by the employees on the future of the Airports Authority of India.

"The Prime Minister assured the workers that there would be no privatisation of the AAI and that the Government would talk to the two companies on increasing the percentage of employees to be absorbed from 60 per cent to near total. About 8-10 per cent employees would retire next year and another 10 per cent would look after air traffic control. We will ensure that every employee is taken care of, particularly Grade `C' and `D' employees," Mr. Patel said.

"No reason for apprehension"

Hoping that an amicable solution could be arrived at between the Government and the employees' union, Mr. Patel said job losses, if any, and displacement would be minor. "There is no reason for apprehension. We can always sit and talk," he added. However, he made it clear that the Government was committed to the smooth functioning of the airports and would ensure that passengers were not put to hardship. He, however, parried a question on whether the Centre would invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) if the AAI employees did not resume their duties.

According to Mr. Ghoshal, the AAI Employees' Joint Forum asked Dr. Singh to review the Government's decision to privatise the two airports as the AAI was a profitable public sector having both the financial support and technical expertise to upgrade the airports.

Left leaders meet PM

Earlier in the day, Left leaders met the Prime Minister on the issue and asked him to meet the leaders of the striking union. Briefing correspondents after the meeting, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, Prakash Karat, said the Left parties asked the Government to call the unions who had gone on strike. The Left parties have extended their full support to the striking employees. He reiterated that modernisation of the two airports in Delhi and Mumbai could be done by the AAI.

Sources in the Left parties said the leaders said the Government should consider the alternative proposal submitted by the AAI for modernisation and sought to know why those proposals were not taken up.

Questioning the Government's claim of transparency in the process, the Left leaders said if that was the case, how was it that a party, which had participated in the bid had challenged the decision in a court of law.

They said the decision taken by the Government was arrived at without any discussion with the employees and it was natural for the latter to be agitated over the development. On his part, the Civil Aviation Minister told the Left leaders that the company, which moved the court, had nothing to do with the decision but challenging the process.

Besides Mr. Karat, Left leaders who attended the meeting were A.B. Bardhan, Communist Party of India leader; G. Devarajan, All India Forward Block secretary; Abani Roy, Revolutionary Socialist Party member; M.K. Pandhe of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions; and Gurudas Dasgupta of the All India Trade Union Congress.

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