Govt dues drag IA further into the red

Small wonder that Indian Airlines (IA) is making losses. Various central and state ministries, departments and public sector enterprises together owe the airline Rs 45.76 crore as on March 31 this year.

Incidentally, the sum amounts to 23 per cent of Rs 196.56 crore total net loss of the the airline for the year 2002-03.

The public sector business accounts for about 20 to 25 per cent of the airlines total operating revenue, according to government sources.

The operating revenue for IA for 2002-03 was Rs 4,071.73 crore and Rs 3, 769.91 crore for the year before.

The list of defaulters is topped by members of Parliament. Lok Sabha MPs owe a total of Rs 8.44 crore to the airline for various journeys made by them.

Various other departments of the Lok Sabha, owe another Rs 1.86 crore to IA. Not to be left behind, the Rajya Sabha is next on the list with a bill of Rs 7.66 crore due.

Surprisingly, various departments and utilities connected with civil aviation, such as Air-India, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the ministry of civil aviation itself owe IA Rs 2.67 crore.

Most of these dues has been outstanding for quite sometime now.

For instance, the non-existent National Airport Authority of India is expected to cough up Rs 47.77 lakh. It, along with the International Airport Authority of India had been merged with the AAI in 1995.

Dues have also been registered for the 'ministry of civil aviation and tourism' which ceased to exist as a conjoined ministry eight years ago.

Ironically, the richest oil PSU of the country, Indian Oil Corporation, heads the list of the PSUs owing Rs 86.91 lakh to the loss making airline.

Ministries handling other transportation sectors such as the ministry of railways owe IA Rs 31.53 lakh while shipping ministry dues are RS 22.12 lakh.

But the ministry of civil aviation is apparently making no extra efforts to call theses ministries , departments and PSU defaulters to pay up promptly.

The delays were due to procedural problems in the different departments, the sources said. The dues to the airline are against the sale of government exchange orders as on March 31 this year. IA issues tickets against these exchange orders to government entities , be it state or central level.