TLI Staff
New Delhi: With the role of public sector getting more amplified during the Coronavirus crisis, over half a dozen Airports Authority of India (AAI) unions and associations have made a fervent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately stop the privatization drive.
The employee groupings on Wednesday participated in the sit-in protest launched by RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) to once again register their resentment against handing out public assets to private parties.
The joint forum of AAI unions expressed astonishment that while on one hand government is talking about Atmanirbhar Bharat, on the other hand it is lining up disinvestment of PSUs which had actually been set up once to help India become self-reliant.
The unions’ contention does not seem unjustified given that dozens of government-owned companies in China figure among the Fortune 500 companies. With the help of their PSUs, China has actually expanded the communist nation’s influence across the world.
Singapore is another example where government has successfully used the sovereign firms to pick up stakes in many of the global MNCs thus strengthening its position in the world.
Moreover, many European countries are regretting for not having a national carrier which could have been deployed to bring back their citizens from Coronavirus-hit nations. They had to rely on and request carriers of other countries to ferry back their nationals.
The joint forum has rightly drawn the attention of the government, which secures popular votes by raising nationalism pitch but once in power divests national assets, towards the stellar contribution made by the PSUs over decades in key strategic areas such as aviation, coal, banking, insurance and oil & gas.
“The CPSUs have been established with a lot of efforts and huge infrastructure, hence, it is rational and imperative to continue the smooth working of the PSUs. The decision of letting go the access of PSUs in private players’ hands will be proven as catastrophic, as government will never be able to attain the sold land or machinery of these PSUs,” the AAI unions have written to Modi.
It is indeed surprising that when many countries are using PSUs to strengthen their position in strategic areas, the Indian government is resorting to all means to divest them off. Moreover, instead of building one of its airports as mega aviation hub on the lines of Singapore and Dubai, it is taking pride in selling them.
Even its sell-off exercise is questionable. The six airports which were bid out to Gujarat-based Adani have turned to be orphans with their new owner dragging feet over taking their control as business sentiments have gone down due to Coronavirus pandemic.
The story does not stop there. Many infrastructure experts have cautioned that government will not get its rightful revenue share for the proposed PPP of six more airports given the current market scenario but Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed nodal Civil Aviation Ministry to start bidding process in three months.
While headwinds to the economy are growing strong, the government seems oblivious to stakeholder advice.
“The rich history of the struggle, survival, contribution, self-reliance and long service to the nation of these public sectors, which are being nourished by the sweat of so many generations, has not been taken into account while making such harsh decisions,” the aggrieved unions have noted in their letter to the PM.
Yes, it’s a wrong decision taken by govt ….AAI is always in profit from last decades ..even AAI is miniratan category 1 psu …and in next few years it will be going to become navratan company ….govt still wants to disinvest ….Where is govt’s ATAMA NIRBHAR slogan…..