Condemning the proposal to privatise more airports, the trade unions in a joint statement said, “Granting the airports to a single business entity and group would lead to monopoly and the group will squeeze extra revenue from passengers and airlines”.

There were income leakage and loss of revenue for the Airports Authority of India at Mumbai and Delhi airports in the past, while the Thiruvanthapuram airport made good profits.

Demanding that “the privatisation of airports should be immediately stopped as it would escalate the cost for airline travellers and airlines as well”, the trade unions said none of the airports were making losses.

So far, 12 airports have been cleared for privatisation by the Modi government in one year alone – Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.

Airports Authority of India, which comes under the Ministry of Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country.

Citing reports which claimed that the Modi government was also planning to sell its stake in IRCTC, the trade unions noted, “The unions condemn the central government's fetish for privatisation and sale of all their assets to their cronies and warn that this step is against the interests of the ordinary commuters, and urge the Central Government to withdraw its latest proposal”.

The anti privatization movement got a boost as the Kerala assembly passed an unanimous resolution on Monday demanding the withdrawal of Union Cabinet's decision to lease out the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram to Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Centre should re-examine its decision and the operation and management of the airport be handed over to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in which the state government has stake.

"A conspiracy has been held to help the Adani group," Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged and said, "Keeping in mind the state's interests, the Opposition is supporting the motion”

The Centre had decided to lease out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Adani Enterprises had won the rights to run six airports — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Gywahati through the PPP model after a competitive bidding process in February 2019.

Trade unions are angry at the NDA government/s continued attacks on the government managed units and the central public sector enterprises since the beginning of the second tenure. The PSEs have been targeted in a big way. The private sector companies are being favoured and some groups close to the ruling party, are getting the contracts at the costs of the government units also the PSEs. Even the blue chip PSE companies are being disinvested.

Earlier this year, the central trade unions organised a nationwide strike against the anti worker policies of the Narendra Modi government which included attacks on the PSEs also, especially privatization. The latest development regarding the airport privatization has only intensified that process. (IPA Service)