Shame, Shame, National Shame

Capt Gopinath calls the condition of our airports a "national shame and an issue of national emergency", Praful Patel agrees to that. I am not against privatization but the neo - jingoistic vibes that these two idiots emanate is a case of "mental shame and mental emergency".

Its estimated that India's total air passenger traffic is around 80 million a year. More people travel by trains, buses and roads everyday. Around 4 years back when the government thought about modernizing the Mumbai and Delhi airports, the estimated cost was 2,400 crores/2,800 crores (both in rupees) and it also decided that it didn't have that kind of money, so it was a case of rationality that they started looking for private investment. Yes, i agree that we are a poor country and of all entities the government shouldn't spend that much money to benefit less than 5 % of our people.

Maybe it was a tad too late for India, most countries had de-regulated the civil aviation sector in the 1980s and some even had gone ahead and privatized the national carriers and airports. In India , besides Mumbai and Delhi, the operation and management of the airports at Chennai and Kolkatta were going to be privatised. Hyderabad and Bangalore were going to get new International airports.

During the entire bidding process, which was brimmed with opacity , no one actively opposed the move, infact it had been so long in coming that even the media interest waned. Lull before the storm, maybe. After the first round of evaluation done by independent regulators (ABN -AMRO Bank) only 2 bidders got 80 % and above saw their bids being evaluated further, then the bids were sent to another committee headed by E.Sreedharan it disqualified one of the bids and sent the report to the EGOM. No fingers were pointed at ABN AMRO or the two other committees and an inter - ministerial group that had verified the bids. We all know what happened next, and who won, and who went on strike et al.

The most predictable outcome, and the most shameful, was the strike by the AAI employees. I believe its democratic to strike, but that doesn't mean you leave your work and go around making a mess. A strike should be a registered protest and the government should listen to the protest and work to solve the problem, issuing statements that the strike is illegal and that there were be consequences don't befit a democracy and so the government usually gets what it deserves. Getting out a bit, the Bhagwad Gita states that God shall fulfill every desire of man to the limit he deserves, not covets. The govt and gopi are getting what they deserve.


Regardless of the fact that more people travel by other methods of public transport than by air every year, i believe its crucial to modernize the airports, but is it enough reason to go around in media calling it a "national shame" and trying to get a sympathy vote. I was traveling by train from Pune to Bombay on Friday and since i hadn't reserved my ticket in advance i had to get a general one, for some reason the train was really crowded and i had to carry my bag around my neck and i actually ended up spraining my neck, and my back still hurts. There will be a lot more people facing a similar problem everyday than air travelers over a year, so what needs to be fixed first. Gopi is a businessman and i understand his concerns in a already threatening industry with low margins and intense competition and that he wants to buy more planes and wants more place to keep them, when they are not flying. Its easy to remember that when fog had enveloped the capital, air deccan promptly closed its counters and left its passengers stranded, no that's not national shame, its easier to blame the airports for that.

The Airport modernization process is the best example of the governments blind, single minded obsession with privatization, for the Govt privatization means complete abdication of its role and easy revenue to come by. Modernization can also mean changing of internal policies and work ethics to provide more efficiency and transparency at all levels, but we as a democracy don't deserve it. We've never learned from past experiences and we've not learnt from the Gita. We never learn.