Planning Comm replies to Aviation Min

"The notion that we are holding back is perhaps not correct," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, whose review of the Delhi airport project has started an acrimonious war of words with the Civil Aviation Ministry, told reporters here.     

He said that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had written to him and raised certain issues.     

Dismissing the charges that constant objections raised by the plan body was leading to delays in modernisation project of Chennai and Kolkata airports, Ahluwalia said: "There is a whole process through which government projects move."     

After Ahluwalia summoned GMR-group company Delhi International Airport Ltd that is revamping the Indira Gandhi International airport on Monday, Patel shot off a letter to Ahluwalia yesterday saying that awarding the projects for Mumbai and Delhi airports was delayed greatly due to the stance of Planning Commission officials.

Besides DIAL, Central Industrial Security Force, immigration authorities and home ministry officials also sat through the review meeting that Ahluwalia had convened after he witnessed congestion-induced delays while seeing off some of his guests.

"The review that I did was a routine review. It is an important part of the management that Planning Commission looks at," Ahluwalia said.     

Patel, in his letter, had noted that the proposed modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports was being delayed despite the Committee on Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister approving it.     

"There are always definite points of view of the different ministries on how a public sector project is carried on. There is a well defined procedure. It goes through different procedures and goes up to Cabinet for approval," Ahluwalia said, responding to the letter.     

On Ahluwalia's concerns about delays being faced by passengers at the Delhi airport, Patel had said that a large part of the inconvenience currently faced was on account of shortage of staff and under-manning of these areas.     

To this, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman acknowledged: "One of the bottlenecks is number of points at which security clearance becomes necessary. This is not something that airport managers do. This is a function performed by the Bureau of Security that essentially involves government providing more personnel to manage these things.     

"We are taking that up with relevant ministries that is what these reviews are for."    

Ahluwalia hoped that by the end of June the throughput capacity of the system would increase very substantially and by the end of the year a temporary additional terminal would become available which would reduce the delays quite a bit.