The government came under concerted Opposition attack in the Lok Sabha on Friday over the dismal status of Air India with the latter alleging a deliberate long-term design to “kill” the state carrier by turning it into a bankrupt entity.
Specifically targeting sacked Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and holding him as well the political leadership in charge responsible for the mess, BJP and Left members staged a walkout when the government told the House it was taking a number of measures as well as working on a plan to turn Air India into a profit making venture once again.
The measures, Minister of State in the PMO V Narayansamy said while replying to a calling attention motion, included rationalization of routes to cut losses on non-profitable ones, rescheduling aircraft operations (returning lease capacity aircraft), rationalization of manpower but by taking employees into confidence, closing offline and foreign offices and cutting down on contractual employment. Narayansamy gave the reply in place of Civil Aviation Minister Vyalar Ravi who was present in the Lok Sabha but suffering from a sore throat.
Narayansamy said a turnaround plan had also been finalised along with SBI Caps, aimed at improving market, operational and financial positions respectively. A separate financial restructuring proposal had been approved by the GoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The two proposals were currently being scrutinised by a group of officials, he added.
However, a dissatisfied Opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha contending that the government had failed to answer several questions they had posed including the reasons behind the appointment of Arvind Jadhav as CMD of NACIL, the entity that was set up after Air India’s merger with Indian Airlines, in 2009 despite knowing fully well that he did not have any domain knowledge and that his candidature had been rejected in the first instance.
CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, who gave the calling attention motion, read out from the minutes of the search committee held in March 2008 to select the NACIL chief, wherein Jadhav’s candidature had been rejected on grounds that he did not have any domain knowledge and had never worked in any related assignment.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that pilots were leaving both Air India as well as Indian Airlines for private ones. He too raised the issue relating to Jadhav’s appointment, citing cabinet notings of 2008 and 2009.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment