key points:
- Centre in February 2019 privatised six major airports of the country — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati
- The decision to hand over Mangaluru Airport came under heavy criticism from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
NEW DELHI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Sunday midnight handed over the Lucknow airport to the Adani group on lease for a period of 50 years.
The AAI had handed over the Mangaluru airport to the group on October 30 midnight. The decision to hand over Mangaluru Airport came under heavy criticism from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi tweeted that development is taking place, but only a few capitalist ‘friends’ (roughly translated from Hindi).
विकास तो हो रहा है, लेकिन सिर्फ़ कुछ पूँजीपति ‘मित्रों’ का। pic.twitter.com/Tf5mNBOKrU
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 2, 2020
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also targeted the government over the issue, accusing it of supporting crony capitalists.
“BJP’s Diwali gift to people: unprecedented inflation. BJP’s Diwali gift to their capitalist friends: 6 airports. With the capitalists and ensuring progress of capitalists,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
She quoted a news report about the handing over of Lucknow airport into private hands. The Adani group has won the bid for the development and maintenance of Lucknow and Mangaluru airports.
The central government in February 2019 privatised six major airports of the country — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati. After a competitive bidding process, the Adani group won the rights to run all of them for 50 years.
The AAI had signed concession agreements with the Adani group on February 14 for operations, management and development of the Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad airports.
On October 22, the AAI said in a press release that the Adani group would be taking over the airports at Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad by October 31, November 2 and November 11, respectively.
The concession agreements for the other three airports — Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram — were signed between both the parties in September.
