New Delhi/Ahmedabad

Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat and senior Congress leader Shri Ahmed Patel has in a letter to union civil aviation minister Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju raised several questions regarding the government decision to hand over the operations and management of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airport to Changi Airport International vide a Memorandum of Understanding with the Singapore Corporation Enterprise, which was signed during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Singapore visit last month.

In his letter to Raju, Ahmed Patel said, “Surprisingly on 20th August the govt decided to abruptly cancel the entire process of competitive bidding for the operation, management and development of Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai and Kolkata airports and subsequently via a govt to govt MoU decided to award the same mandate to a foreign operator for Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.”

“India’s policy on airport infra has encouraged an open, consultative and competitive model of public private partnership which protects the interest of the Airport Authority of India and at the same time promotes private participation. The successful redevelopment of Delhi and Mumbai airports were based on this policy.Hence I find it surprising that without any explicit change in policy the govt bypassed due to process and has abruptly selected an operator to manage two of India’s most important airports. The closed nature in which the govt arrived at this crucial decision is beyond reasonable comprehension,” he further said.

“Rather then applying a rigorous test of selecting qualified operators and protecting the interest of Airports Authority of India, I fail to understand on what basis has the govt zeroed on a particular operator? While Singapore can boast of an efficient airport, so does many other countries. Did the govt deem fit to evaluate even those operator before awarding the mandate to Changi Airport International?” the letter reads.

Ahmed Patel further stated in his letter,”given that the Airports Authority of India initially intended to develop four airports – Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur – why has the MoU covered only two airports? Such display of arbitrariness on matters of national importance is baffling. I also wish to remind you that Ahmedabad is one of India’s few profitable airports and I sincerely hope that the new arrangement causes no revenue loss to Airports Authority of India. The previous govt had a consistent policy on developing vital airport infra. Transparency and accountability must be the corner stone for any policy on public infra. I sincerely hope the govt will take steps to ensure such values are reflective in its policies.”

– DeshGujarat