Praful Patel comes under attack in RS for poor health of AI

New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel hit turbulence in the Upper House on Tuesday. The high-profile minister came under severe criticism as non-Congress parties joined hands to attack him for the problems that threaten to ground the national carrier, Air India.
Congress's decision to stay neutral provided little comfort to Patel, as BJP's Prakash Javadekar, along with CPM's Tapan Sen and CPI's D Raja, let loose a withering attack. Javadekar was particularly severe as he alluded to the role of middlemen and alleged corruption in all big deals involving Air India. "How is it that names of Talwar and Dogra surface in every deal," he asked.
The assault on the minister focussed on award of bilateral rights to foreign airlines on routes where AI had traditionally made profits, purchase of aircraft and pulling out the carrier from profitable and busy domestic routes.
Non-Congress members demanded a white paper and a probe by Joint Parliamentary Committee into the affairs of Air India which incurred a loss of Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09 and accumulated losses expected at Rs 7,200 crore.
Javadekar asked why the issue of Air India-Indian Airlines merger was not brought before Parliament and why the merger had not resulted in profit for the national carrier. He also wanted to know why new planes were being bought from two different companies, and why AI was giving away bilateral rights to international airlines. Giving the specific instance of Emirates, he said that while the Gulf-based airline was operating 185 flights every week to various destinations in India, Air India could, in return, operate a meagre 20-25.
BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad asked if there was a vested interest behind the deteriorating financial condition of Air India. Shiv Sena's Bharat Rout, CPM's Tapan Sen and CPI's D Raja also asked why AI was not operating in busy and profitable sectors.
15/07/09 Times of India

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Categories: NACIL Jul 2009