As usual protests are snowballing against the instruction of the Centre to privatise Thiruvananthapuram International airport also. It is not sure that those who come out to protest as soon as they hear about private partnership is doing so after studying the issue properly.

They are also not aware that times of those who insist that everything should be under public sector is over. In the case of Thiruvananthapuram airport no developments have been taking place for the past many years. Space limit is said to be the reason for this. Though there was development when a few services where there, there has not been any development when it is deemed the first airport of Kerala.

When Kochi and Kozhikode made strides in development, Thiruvananthapuram is caught in the issue of space limit. In the current circumstances, obstacles for attaching additional lands is many. Nevertheless, the government had assured the Airport Authority of India of acquiring and handing over to it 18 acre land lying close to the airport.

When the procedures for that were in its last leg, did the Centre come up with the instructions for private partnership. Meanwhile, the chief minister’s office has made it clear that if the Centre’s aim is privatisation of the airport, the government will not take interest in acquiring the land for its development.

In effect, the development of airport will get stalled and the Rs 600 crore project brought by the Centre will have a premature death. Meanwhile, several parties have started preparations for agitating against privatisation.

They are also organising protest outside the airport on Monday. The parties under LDF have also decided to celebrate the day as a black day. The Centre’s proposal is to privatise the development, operation and supervision of the airport. With this, the airport will be handed over to a private company for lease for 50 years.

Only the operation of flight services will be under the control of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and all other things will come under the direct control of private party.

When steps to find out private partners are about to start on Monday, the issue is likely to be a topic of argument between the State and Centre. The State government’s question is why the authority to run the airport is not handed over to it. But the Centre is not ready for this. It has asked the government to take part in tender procedures if they want to be a stakeholder. The State government is also not ready for this.

Governments withdrawing from service sector has become a new trend. Not only in airports, in other sectors also is the Centre going for private partnership.
This practise is not known to have negatively impacted the service providers or beneficiaries.

If the State decides to oppose private partnership in the name of some ideologies, Kerala will lose many things as it has happened earlier. Coach factory and light metro had failed to see daylight after getting caught in private partnership controversy.

Cochin International airport is itself the best example of the success of PPP. Kannur airport that will be inaugurated on Sunday will also have private partnership. In these times, nobody sees PPP as a big crime.

If the government is so much interested in the airport, it can form a company based on CIAL model and take over the operations of the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

It is a naked truth that it is impossible to run an airport using government servants. KSRTC is one of the convincing examples for this. Besides this, see, how many public sector units are there that have always been a liability for the State.

Airports are for flight passengers and if its conduct is in the proper manner, passengers will be happy. If the State government decides to tread the path of confrontation, it will affect the future of Thiruvananthapuram airport.