February 21, 2018 TnH Global

Parliamentary panel discusses issues related to Air India stake sale

A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday discussed various issues related to Air India disinvestment and civil aviation ministry’s demand for grants for the next fiscal.

The meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture went on for more than an hour and was attended by senior ministry officials, chiefs of aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Air India and Pawan Hans, among others. It was chaired by All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O Brien.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the panel was to hear the views of civil aviation secretary on points raised by employees’ unions of Air India on proposed disinvestment and demands for grants. Civil aviation secretary R.N. Choubey, DGCA director General B.S. Bhullar, Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola and Pawan Hans CMD B.P. Sharma were among the officials who were present at the meeting.

An official present at the meeting said that issues related to Air India stake sale and the ministry’s demands for grants were discussed. Last month, there was high drama at the panel’s meeting over Air India stake sale draft report.

Most members of the panel present then had sought withdrawal of the draft report which opposed the disinvestment of Air India, prompting some opposition leaders to walk out in protest. The government is working on the modalities for strategic disinvestment of the loss-making national carrier.

There are 31 MPs in all in the committee, with 15 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and one each from its allies Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Apna Dal and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP). Three are from the Congress, three from the TMC and one each from Samajwadi Party (SP), YSR Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).