Airport operators and AAI clash on staff dues

New Delhi: Operators of Delhi and Mumbai international airports are squabbling with state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) over the compensation they need to pay to thousands of workers who did not join the airports after privatization four years ago.
Under the 2006 agreement, Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport Ltd (Mial) were responsible for compensating some 60% of the total AAI employees if they did not join the private airports by 2009. Less than 5% agreed to work for the two when the deadline ended.
DIAL, a GMR Infrastructure Ltd-led consortium, and Mial, led by GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, were asked to pay around Rs209 crore and Rs214 crore, respectively, to AAI in April 2009.
But DIAL, which runs the Indira Gandhi International Airport, had paid only Rs80 crore by the March 2010, two AAI officials who did not want to be named said. Mial, which operates the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, had paid only Rs154 crore, they said.
Also Read Private airport operators asked to pay Rs423 crore as compensation
A Mumbai airport spokesman defended the delay. “After implementing the VRS (voluntary retirement scheme) scheme last year, AAI was to provide us with complete and final details of quantum payable based on employees’ numbers. We are still awaiting these details,” the spokesman said in reply to questions.
Mial wants to make a staggered payment, he added. “Also, a part of the VRS component is payable to its employees over a period of 10 years, which AAI wants us to pay upfront, which we have contested. We are in discussion with them on this issue.”
01/05/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: Airports May 2010