House panel looks at Air India stake sale details

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday discussed various issues related to Air India disinvestment, and the 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 DGCA, Air India and Pawan Hans, among others. It was chaired by TMC leader Derek O Brien.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the panel was to hear the views of the 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 the 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’s 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 flag carrier. There are 31 MPs in all in the committee, with 15 from the BJP, and one each from its allies TDP, Apna Dal and RLSP. Three are from the Congress, three from the TMC and one each from SP, YSR Congress, RJD, NCP, BJD, CPI(M) and AIADMK.