New Delhi: In 1997, then civil aviation minister C.M. Ibrahim acted under pressure from Jet Airways to thwart the Tata group's bid to start an airline in India in association with Singapore Airlines, a former top bureaucrat has said in a tell-all book.
"The history of civil aviation in this country would have taken a different trajectory, if Tata Singapore Airlines had been allowed to float an airline," wrote M.K. Kaw, the civilian aviation secretary in the government of prime minister I.K. Gujral.
In his book "An Outsider Everywhere - Revelations by an Insider" (Konark Publishers), Kaw said Ibrahim refused to clear the proposal despite policy papers being put up before him.
"The minister did not clear the file, despite several attempts on my part."
"The Tatas finally got tired of waiting and withdrew their proposal. Recently, Ratan Tata explained that one person had stood between the Tatas and the fulfillment of their aspirations in the civil aviation sector," Kaw said.
He said the Tata group was not allowed to open an airport. "They had wanted to set up an international airport at Bangalore. They had a foreign collaborator with all the expertise connected with setting up of world-class airports. Normally the proposal should have been through.
"I submitted the case to the minister (Ibrahim). He did not okay the proposal."
20/04/12 IANS/Daijiworld
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