Crucial meeting on airport

Senior government sources indicated that "we stand by the Bangalore International Airport project and want it" to quell concerns it may get derailed at the last minute. Seeking to rationalise the latest setback, the sources said, "these are compulsions of coalition politics. We have to keep negotiating till both parties faint."

A crucial meeting between the ruling coalition government (Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular) and various stakeholders of the airport project is scheduled to take place on Tuesday to put it back on the rails.

To ensure the meeting succeeds, all stakeholders of the new airport held separate meetings on Monday to discuss their strategies.

Pointing to media reports on the heated debate between deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah and chief minister N Dharam Singh at the Cabinet meeting on Friday, sources told Business Standard that Tuesday's meeting holds great significance.

"While the JD-S has said that a formal approval for the project will be given only after studying the details of the agreements signed so far, it must be noted that there has been a high level of transparency on behalf of the consortium. Why will the consortium want to unnecessarily escalate the cost of the project when they hold a majority stake of 74 per cent. It is unfortunate JD-S is pointing to loopholes that have no meaning," said a well-informed government source.

The source added that the consortium had performed a Herculean task of bringing the project this far. "It is only right to ensure there are no more hurdles," the source said.

When asked about the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, the source said he was unaware as he had only received a formal notification for the meeting.

An official at BIAL declined to comment on the obstacles that need to be crossed to ensure smooth execution of the project at this point. "I do not wish to comment until the meeting is over," said a BIAL official.

The JD-S is unhappy over the "kickbacks" involved when the previous Congress government negotiated the deal with the Siemens-Zurich Airport-L&T Consortium.

In fact, industries and infrastructure minister P G R Sindhia has gone on record stating that while the state support agreement cannot be altered, the government had decided not to give a sales tax exemption of Rs 30 crore to the consortium.

It is unclear if the additional land required by the BIAL has been acquired. This had become a major hurdle sometime ago.

Sources said that the chief minister is under severe pressure from the Congress high command to ensure the project takes off. On the other hand, he is unable to convince his coalition partners, the JD-S, to agree to the project.