Modi govt bats for privatisation of 6 more airports

Agencies
October 19, 2019

New Delhi, Oct 19: Undeterred by staff protests, the Civil Aviation Ministry would seek Cabinet approval for privatising half a dozen more airports by the first week of December.

The six airports up for privatisation are Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Trichy, Indore and Raipur.

"The Airports Authority of India (AAI) board has approved the plan. We will seek in-principle approval of the Cabinet now. Once it is approved, the bidding process would start," said an official source.

The Ministry hopes to complete the bidding process by the end of this financial year.

The move to bid out more airports to private companies has come close on the heels of government privatising six airports. Gujarat-based Adani Enterprises was the highest bidder for all the six airports. While the Union Cabinet has approved leasing out of three airports - Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru - to Adani, the other three airports - Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram - are currently on hold due to some pending issues. In case of all the airports, the lease period is 50 years.

Defending the government decision to privatise more airports, an official said that AAI would get more revenue as a result of this and focus on the development of smaller airports.

"The six airports which are being leased out generated a combined profit of Rs 220-250 crore for the AAI. After privatisation, the AAI would get Rs 900-1,100 crore in a year without making any expense," the official said.

It, however, may be noted that government, for the last two years, has been making claim over the AAI's almost entire profits requiring the state agency to part with it as dividend.

Unionised staff of AAI has been protesting against government move to privatise airports fearing job losses and early retirement. They staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in the Capital to protest against the government move.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Mumbai, Jan 30: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested Dr Kafeel Khan from Mumbai airport for allegedly making inflammatory statements at AMU during protests against the Citizenship Amendments Act (CAA) last month, officials said.

Khan was arrested on Wednesday night with assistance from Mumbai Police at the airport when he arrived in the city to attend anti-CAA protests, an official said.

"Officials of the UP STF arrested Dr Kafeel Khan in a case which was registered at Civil Lines Police Station under section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC. Our police team helped our UP counterparts on their request," said an official from Mumbai Police.

He claimed that Khan had made inflammatory statements on December 12 last year during the protest near Bab e Syed Gate outside the Aligarh Muslim University in front of more than 600 students.

The official also alleged that the Gorakhpur doctor had made objectionable comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The FIR against Khan mentions that Swaraj India's president Yogendra Yadav was also present during the speech at AMU.

Following the arrest in the case, Khan was taken to the Sahar Police Station and after completing formalities he will be taken to UP on transit remand, the official said.

Khan, a paediatrician, had come to the limelight in 2017 when a controversy broke out after the death of over 60 children in less than a week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, UP.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Hyderabad, Jan 6: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, following violence in the campus and said the "cruel attack" was meant to "punish"the students as they "dared to stand up".

"In solidarity with the brave students of JNU. This cruel attack is meant to 'punish' JNU students because they dared to stand up. It's so bad that even Union Ministers are tweeting helplessly. Modi Sarkar must answer why cops aresiding with goons," the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

The AIMIM has also tweeted expressing solidarity with the "students of JNU". "AIMIM stands in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Who feels threatened by the voice of students?," the party said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

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News Network
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: Diesel price in the national capital crossed the Rs 80 per litre-mark for the first time ever on Thursday as oil companies raised prices for the 19th day, taking the cumulative rate to Rs 10.63 a litre.

Petrol price, after a day's hiatus, was hiked by 16 paise and the increase in less than three weeks now totals Rs 8.66 per litre.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 79.92 per litre from Rs 79.76, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 80.02 a litre from Rs 79.88, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Diesel had for the first time become costlier than petrol in Delhi on Wednesday and has now crossed the Rs 80 per litre-mark.

Rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax (VAT).

However, diesel is costlier than petrol only in the national capital where the state government had raised local sales tax or VAT on the fuel sharply last month. It costs less than petrol in other cities.

The 19th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to fresh highs.

In 19 straight days, diesel price has gone up by Rs 10.63 per litre. Petrol price has been hiked on 18 occasions since June 7 and now totals to Rs 8.66 a litre.

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