Dressed in black and waving flags, over 400 employees of the Airport Authority of India barged into the domestic airport terminal to protest against the move to privatise the Chennai International Airport.
The employees led by the Airport Authority Employees Union managed to enter the atrium after a scuffle with the Central Industrial Security Force, and sat down at the arrival gateway obstructing representatives from companies bidding for the development contract.
Union members attempted to stop Anuj Agarwal, Head, Key Infrastructure Development Cell, Airports Authority of India, upon his arrival at the airport.
After a few tense moments, he was whisked away by the security personnel. On Monday, four officials from AAI, New Delhi, visited the airport to reassure employees that their jobs were safe, and to discuss preliminary arrangements for a first-hand inspection of the airport by the bidders. The tour around the airport is part of the bidding process to win the mandate to operate, manage and develop the airport. L. George, Regional Secretary, Airports Authority Employees Union, questioned the rationale behind spending Rs 2,015 crore to modernise the airport and giving it away to private parties.
Privatisation could jack up the User Development Fee for flyers, which is currently at Rs 166 for domestic flyers and Rs 400 for cross-border flights. Costs of food items inside the airport may also go up.
The association has approached the State Government with the request to prevent the entry of private players, but is yet to get a reply. He said nine companies are bidding for the contract including players such as GMR Group, GVK, Tatas and Fraport AG which operates the Frankfurt airport.
An AAI source who wished to remain unnamed said the process of privatisation has “reduced the State-owned airport operator to airport landlords who get money by renting out airports, instead of operating them.”
The Airport Authority of India had spelt out plans to hand over operational authority of other airports too — Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Guwahati — to private parties.
Its deadline for the Chennai airport is January.