NDA nearly sold off Air India: Patel

    
NEW DELHI: Accusing the previous NDA government of nearly selling off national carrier Air India, Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel on Friday said the UPA has made aviation a "sunrise sector".
    
Replying to the discussion on the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Bill 2007, which was passed by Parliament, Patel lashed out at his predecessor Rajiv Pratap Rudy, saying though he spoke passionately about upholding the significance of Air India, "it was in fact during the NDA regime that tenders had been issued for selling it off .... there was a bid by Tata-Singapore for it".
    
He said it was also during NDA rule "that Air India lost out to competition as it was not allowed to buy new carriers".
    
The Minister also expressed surprise over Rudy's remark that there was a "cartelisation of Air India-Jet-Sahara". He said had this been the case then the national carrier would also have been levying congestion charges on passengers.
    
Patel said the UPA government has not only upheld the dignity of Air India, but it also provided passengers with "so much to choose from" with the presence of several low-cost airlines. "This has also led to the high growth in the aviation sector," the Minister said.
    
Promising to adhere to the suggestions of the Standing Committee on Transport, he said the Ministry will take care of the interests of the employees of airlines.

Defending levy of user charges, Patel said these are "acceptable norms" as a lot of capital expenditure is required to maintain airports.
    
"In such a scenario, the regulatory authority proposed in the Bill will see whether the expenditure is being done properly or not," he said adding that the Ministry will look into all safeguards to protect the interests of the sector as well as that of Air India, as "it has been a sunrise sector for the last four years".
    
The Bill seeks to set up an economic regulator for airports, which will maintain a competitive and level-playing field between the services provided and fees charged by government-owned, private-owned and public-private partnership owned airports.
    
Earlier, participating in the discussion on the Bill, D Raja (CPI) called upon the government to protect the interests of Air India and also that of the employees of Airport Authority of India (AAI).    

He said though the government has been encouraging private airlines and developing infrastructure of airports, but at the same time, the rights of public sector undertaking as well as of the national carrier should not be overlooked.     

Referring to the recent retrenchment move by Jet Airways, Raja said these employees should also be under the purview of Labour laws.
    
M V Mysura Reddy (TDP), B S Gnanadesikan (Congress) and Ram Narayan Sahu (Samajwadi Party) also participated in the discussion on the Bill.