Criticising private carriers for 'bad management' and seeking bailout from the government, senior CPI leader D Raja on Wednesday said their functioning should be enquired into and demands 'carefully scrutinised'.
"What our private airlines are demanding is (that) they will continue the same style of functioning and when losses occur, government must pay.
"An enquiry will show huge revenues were wasted on unnecessary expenditure, high salaries and high style of living. There can be an enquiry into such expenditure first," Raja said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He also demanded that the civil aviation ministry gives immediate clearance to construction of low-cost airports near major cities to make air travel cheaper.
Maintaining it was 'alarming' that private airlines had issued a strike threat, Raja said 'what is puzzling is the way government has succumbed immediately to threats, requesting them to come for talks. Bailouts for private sector should be carefully scrutinised.'
He asked why these carriers spent 'huge sums of money on cricket teams, buying more planes than needed, buying other airlines. Is the public to pay for bad management practices.'
Questioning the private airlines' need for 'giving extremely high salaries to senior managers and owners', Raja asked whether they were 'fudging accounts' by floating subsidiary businesses.
In his letter, the CPI leader also asked whether the stand-alone aviation companies were surviving and 'adventurist (adventurer) companies showing losses'.
"Private airlines want funds and grants. Instead, they should streamline their own managements and eliminate extravagance. Seeking grants is not right. Passengers have become victims of both private airports and private airlines."
The airlines were right 'only in one area' of being overcharged by private airports for landing, berthing and take-off, Raja said and claimed that airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad were charging rates 'higher than European airports'.
These four airports, he said, accounted for 80 per cent of all passengers. All of them were in private hands and charging 'monopolistic rates' and were 'mainly interested in real estate operations. AAI could build low-cost airports near large cities.'
Asking the government to 'seriously examine how to roll back' these high charges, he said low-cost aviation was not possible unless there were low-cost airports.
"Strangely, the civil aviation ministry has not talked about low-cost airports."
He demanded that the ministry 'should immediately clear low-cost airports near major cities. If this is not done, then the interest of private airport operators prevails over the interest of passengers and the public.'
Image: CPI leader D Raja
