New Delhi: Airport Authority of India (AAI) under a joint forum on Thursday held a protest march at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar against airports privatisation.
"This decision by the government to privatise airports is not profit-making, we are working in airports from the last 70 years, we are more professional and experience. We have appealed many times to the government to roll back their decision to stop privatisation of airports but the government is not listening to our concerns," said Balraj Singh Ahlawat, Airports Authority of Employees Union (AAEU).
Balraj Singh Ahlawat termed the government's move as unilateral and said that if the government thinks that we are lacking behind something then we must be informed and we will rectify it. Privatising the airports at once is not the solution, he added.
Last year the government decided to privatise airports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati for operations, management and development through the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The Airport Authority of India manages around 120 airports in the country with a workforce of around 17,000 employees.
AAEU has been protesting against the government move since February when the Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) won the rights to run these six airports after competitive bidding.
AAEU comprises the Airport Authority of India employees union, Airport Authority Officers Association and Indian Airports Kamgar Union.
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