Airport staff threatens fresh agitation

Airports Authority of India employees today said they would not hesitate to go on strike again if the government went ahead with privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports.

"We have not been intimated about any decision by the government of not including the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports under the purview of the tripartite committee. If they go ahead with the privatisation process without informing us, we won't hesitate to go on strike again," AAI Employees' Joint Forum Convenor MK Ghoshal said.

The threat came a day after the third meeting of the tripartite panel, set up on airport modernisation, comprising employees' representatives, officials of the civil aviation ministry and AAI.

At the meeting yesterday, the union leaders demanded that the government give in writing that Delhi and Mumbai airports were beyond the purview of the committee.

Ghoshal said the forum had submitted an alternative plan to the government, but had not yet given any clarification on the status of the report given to the official review committee.

"Even after three meetings of the tripartite committee, we don't know the government's stand on the report," he said.

The ministry had yesterday stated that privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports was beyond the jurisdiction of the tripartite committee, set up in the wake of the four-day strike by airport employees in February.

Meanwhile, trade unions from other PSUs have also joined hands with airport employees against any privatisation move.

"It is no longer an issue of the employees of AAI, but for all employees of public sector units, which the government is trying to sell off against the agreed CMP of the UPA government," CITU leader Dipankar Mukherjee said.

He said the government had time and again violated the agreement in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of not getting into a confrontation with employees of public sector companies.