Bright Times News: As the conflict between the central and state governments intensifies over economic issues, the opposition ruling states have backed the Tamil Nadu government’s demand that the state government share in the revenue of the privatized airports and share in the profits in exchange for the land handed over. The Congress government in Chhattisgarh and the JMM government in Jharkhand have come out in support of Tamil Nadu’s proposal.
The federal government has not officially commented on the plans drawn up by the states. However, sources said that the central government was not accepting the state government’s request. This is said to be detrimental to the privatization decision.
According to Chhattisgarh Health and Family Welfare and Business Tax Minister DS Singh Theo, this is very logical. When you give land to the central government, you become a partner. It is your property. When the property is transferred to another party, especially if the buyer is private, only one shareholder can receive the share. The state government is also a stakeholder.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Jharkhand Finance Minister Rameshwar Oran said the land belongs to the state. Its operation also takes place in the state. In such a situation, if we get a share of the revenue, our income will also increase. We support such a demand. All land is owned by the government. We have just given it to the Central Government. Therefore, the revenue generated by privatization should be shared by the state government, he said.
At the same time, the central government considers that when a new airport is built or an existing airport is upgraded, the state will get economic benefits through infrastructure.
A senior official working on the center’s privatization plans told The Indian Express, “This is a direct economic activity that benefits the entire state. Even if the airport is upgraded, the benefits to the people around it are increasing. State government benefit is available. The value of the land there is rising. For private companies, he said, such requests would affect the outcome of the project if an additional outcome was created in addition to sharing with AAI.
The AAI, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Finance Commission did not respond to questions from the Indian Express.
According to the National Monetization Pipeline, 25 airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have been earmarked for cash monetization by 2025. AAI, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Finance Ministry did not respond to questions from the Indian Express.
According to the National Monetization Pipeline, 25 airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have been earmarked for cash monetization by 2025: Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Kozhikode, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, and Jodhpur. , Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun, and Rajahmundry have been selected.
The central government has leased six airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, and Mangalore to Adani Enterprises for 50 years and has so far privatized six airports.
When new airports are built or existing airports are expanded by AAI, state governments convert them to AAI for a 99-year lease for 1 rupee. The land is acquired, vacated, and then transferred to AAI.
In a new industrial policy released last week, the Tamil Nadu government said the price of land plays a major role in the overall project estimate. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is actively pursuing a policy of privatizing airports. In case of transfer, it has been decided that in case of transfer of AAI or Government of India assets to a third party, the value/income available thereby must be fixed.
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