It is not Government’s duty to run airports and airlines; says Puri

 

The Civil Aviation Minister on Sunday said that the Government should not open airlinesas of now. He also added that he hopes that India will be able to privatize Air India during 2020.

The remark came amid the controversy in Kerala wherein the Kerala Government has shown its disagreement on the decision of the Union Cabinet to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani Enterprises under the public-private partnership (PPP) model for a period of 50 years. The decision was announced on August 19.

Puri was attending a virtual meeting on the Namo App, when he became vocal about the issue. He said, “I can tell you from my heart the government should not be running airports and the government should not be running airlines.” It is to be noted that The Centre-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) currently owns and manages over 100 airports including the one in Thiruvananthapuram.

Puri also talked about the privatization of Air India and said, “As a going concern, one that is attractive to potential bidders, we should privatize it (Air India). And I am hopeful that we will be able to complete that privatization process during this year.”

The Government started the process of privatization of Air India in January 27. Recently the government has to extend the deadline of bidding for the company till October 31 considering that the economy is severely hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. “If the government runs an airport or an airline, then they have to follow the government rules like L1 and L2, and that is not how commercial entities can run,” Puri said.

However, the Thiruvananthapuram airport issue has remained a core topic of discussion during the meeting. Earlier Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the issue. “In view of the unilateral decision taken by the Government of India without giving credence to the cogent arguments put forward by the State government, it will be difficult for us to offer cooperation to the implementation of the decision, which is against the wishes of the people of the State,” he said in the letter.

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