AAI chairman against privatisation of airports including Ahmedabad, sacked

Ahmedabad, 24 January 2014

Quoting the sources, PTI report says Chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India, V P Agarwal has been removed from his post apparently because of his “opposition” to privatisation of six more airports in the country including the Ahmedabad airport. Alok Sinha, who is currently joint secretary in the Aviation Ministry and handling the airports, has been given additional charge of the post, according to government orders.

Agarwal’s five-year term as AAI chairman had expired last December but he was granted an extension.

The report says the government is in a hurry and wants the process to be completed before going into elections. For this reason, Agarwal who was opposing privatisation had to lose his post.

A parliamentary panel had last year opposed privatisation of government airports in the country.