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CPM, Cong call for stir against handing over airport to pvt operator
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With the ruling and Opposition fronts in Kerala on the same page, a big resistance is building up in the state against the Narendra Modi government’s decision to hand over Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani group.
Both CPM and Congress leaderships have called for a statewide protest against the move which they term “sell out” to corporate. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has convened an all-party meeting to decide the future course of action on the issue.
Vijayan has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to reconsider the Union Cabinet’s decision to hand over the airport to the private sector.
“We have successfully operated the Cochin and Kannur airports and it proves the state government’s expertise in this sector. The private bidder has no work experience that can match up to the state government in this field,” he said.
Vijayan took the Centre to task for ignoring the requests made earlier for transferring the operations and management of the airport a Special Purpose Vehicle in which the state government would be a major stakeholder.
He reminded the Centre that in 2005 the state government
had transferred 23.57 acres of land free of cost to the Airports Authority of India to build an international terminal on the condition that the land value should be reflected as the state’s share capital in the SPV.
“All our requests to hand over the airport to SPV have been ignored by the Centre. Moreover, the Centre’s decision comes at a time when, on the directions of the Supreme
Court, there is a case pending in Kerala high court on the issue,” he added.
Vijayan said under these circumstances it would be difficult to cooperate with the Centre and provide support for implementing the decision. He told the PM that this was also the opinion of the people of Kerala.
The ruling CPM said it will launch a statewide agitation since the Centre’s decision to hand over the airport with assets worth `30,000 crore to Adani was not acceptable and against the interests of Kerala.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullapally Ramachandran echoed similar sentiments. He called for statewide protests to force the BJP Government at the Centre to roll back the unilateral decision. “None of us need to be on the payroll of these corporate giants,” he said.