Left seeks JPC probe into selloffs

Mamohan Singh govt hearing not listening, feels CPI(M)

Differences between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Left parties on privatisation and disinvestment persisted both inside and outside Parliament.

Top sources in government conceded cautiously that perhaps in some aspects of civil aviation, the Manmohan Singh-led government should have been more sensitive to the views of the Left.

Furious at the "stalling tactics" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the government's tendency to hear but not listen, the Left yesterday demanded a joint parliamentary committee to probe into all the disinvestment carried out by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

In Parliament, issues relating to disinvestment of the Juhu Centaur Hotel raised by CPI(M) leader Dipankar Mukherjee in the Rajya Sabha led to a logjam with the BJP opposing raising the issue and Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat adjourned the House after expunging proceedings when BJP members trooped into the well of the House.

The same action did not invite the same punishment in the Lok Sabha where the matter was raised by B Acharia (CPI-M).

The Left reminded Parliament that the proposed resale of the privatised Juhu Centaur Hotel in Mumbai was taking place on Tuesday and wanted to know what steps had been taken to protect 600 workers being rendered jobless.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Acharia claimed the hotel was sold for a mere Rs 50 crore and alleged that former Disinvstment Minister Arun Shourie was present at the meeting between the buyer and the banker when money was being arranged for the purchase of the hotel.

The buyer was a member of the Air India board.

It was the NDA government as part of its big ticket disinvestment programme had privatised the ITDC-owned Centaur Hotel to Tulip Hospitalities, which was then opposed by several political parties, including the Shiv Sena, for alleged undervaluation of the property.

The hotel is now proposed to be resold by the new owners apparently at a higher value. The Congress and Left parties have been demanding an inquiry into the disinvestment, which was being opposed by the BJP.

Government sources also conceded that the raising of equity of domestic national carriers in airports from 5 per cent to 10 per cent, one of the first decisions taken by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, had added to the ire of the Left parties, which were asserting that they were being informed rather than consulted about the functioning of a government they thought they were keeping afloat.

The hike in the foreign direct investment limit in civil aviation from 40 per cent to 49 per cent was another such measure. The government's apparent helplessness in preventing the resale of the Juhu Centaur was yet another.

Civil aviation featured heavily on the Left agenda yesterday. In Chennai, Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) should be the deciding authority on modernisation of airports in the country and assets of the airports should not be allowed to reach private hands.

"Yes. Airports in the country need to be modernised. We need state of the art airports that can match the airports in the world. But the process should be done with the AAI at the helm of affairs," he said after addressing the AAI employees who are on relay fast to protest against the Centre's move to privatise airports.

The CPI(M) had objected when the Airports Authority of India's role in airports was diluted by raising domestic national carriers' share, government sources said, adding that nothing prevented the AAI, which already had 26 per cent in airport equity, from forming joint ventures.

But Yechury was clear that there should be no transfer of properties to private hands, especially because certain areas like the air traffic control and security, which could not be handed over to private hands, he said.