Cambata Aviation Contracts In Review

The ministry of civil aviation is reviewing Cambata Aviation's existing ground-handling contracts for operations at the New Delhi and the Mumbai airports.

The home ministry had recently denied a security clearance to the company pointing out that the company's employees have been successively charged with assisting illegal immigration, smuggling, fraud, disruptive behaviour, and trolley lifting.

It also noted that Cambata is plagued with bitter union rivalry led by the rival groups of BKS (Shiv Sena) and Arun Gawli.

The company, promoted by a group of non-resident Indians, has been involved in sensitive ground operations such as baggage handling and aircraft door checks at the New Delhi and Mumbai airports for 35 years and operates for airlines like Gulf Air, Alitalia, China Air, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Thai Air, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific.

The review assumes significance in the present environment where security at airports is being given paramount importance.

Top government officials said in December 2001, aviation secretary A H Jung had written to the state governments of Mumbai and Delhi, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and commissioner of security for civil aviation (BCAS) for taking "necessary action" following the home ministry's observations.

The officials said that the aviation ministry has sought the state governments' assistance to obtain evidence that can be admitted in a court before disqualifying it from the ground-handling privatisation programme and taking a view on its existing contracts at the Delhi and the Mumbai airports. "The Intelligence Bureau's inputs are not admissible in a court of law," a senior official said.

The note from the home ministry came in response to the aviation ministry's request for a fresh security clearance by the former as Cambata is one of the successful bidders for AAI's proposed privatisation of ground-handling services at airports.

When contacted, a senior company executive said that the company had not been intimated about the charges. "We have 3,000 employees in India and none of them can be indulging into unlawful activities single-handedly. The government must pin down the other agencies as well. On our part, whenever an untowardly incident comes to our notice, we initiate stern disciplinary action against the employees. The investigative agencies must compare our track record with that of other government and non-government agencies working at the airports," he said. He also confirmed that the Intelligence Bureau had indeed interviewed company officials two-three months ago.

Delhi chief secretary P S Bhatnagar refused to take calls. His office, however, confirmed that the letter had been received. The file has now been forwarded to the principal secretary with Bhatnagar's comments.

The home ministry has said, "its (Cambata's) employees...have successively been charged for smuggling, fraud and disruptive behaviour. Cambata is plagued with bitter union rivalry led by the rival groups of BKS (Shiv Sena) and Arun Gawli,...(The) company is reportedly finding it difficult to effectively manage the workforce due to groupism and infighting."

The note added that during the last couple of years, a few cases of extortion of money from gullible passengers have been registered at the airport police station. "An unwieldy workforce is a cause of concern with respect to security and other related matters," it said.