AIRINDIA-PRIVATISATION-AITUC

Accusing the Modi Government of planning to sell flag carrier Air India for "smaller" price, country's oldest trade unions federation AITUC on Friday urged the government to drop the move, which has failed to attract a buyer twice in the past. The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), in its statement, also dubbed the decision as "political" one, taken on behalf of the "corporate masters," which applies to all the PSUs and not just to Air India.

The AITUC statement came a day after civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the national carrier should be run by the private sector. "This very Government has failed twice before in selling off Air India. This (complete privatisation), then is a signal that the government will settle for a smaller price that is how corporate cartels pressurise the government," AITUC alleged in the statement.

Puri had said on Tuesday that people are very "interested" in acquiring Air India and he has been receiving calls from all over the world in this regard while calling for total privatisation of the national carrier. Significantly, the government's earlier attempt to exit from the airline business came a cropper when it failed to get a single buyer, forcing it to put off the disinvestment because the market conditions were not conducive for sale.

As many as six private airlines, including Jet Airways have gone out of business in the last five years due to financial and operational reasons. "Like any salesman, he (Puri) said, Air India is a first-class airline and that there are many who are interested in it and the one who gets it is very fortunate," the statement said.

"Then he added, that I believe the government should not be in the business of running airlines and that Air India must be run in the private sector," it added. The AITUC also alleged that the PSUs are denied the level-playing field and said that the the "government first brings them to economic collapse and then uses that as a pretext to sell them off." "This is the governments modus operandi. BSNL is another such glaring example," the statement said adding, "AITUC urges the central government to give up their plan to exit Air India..