So another scam is surfacing for procurement of aircraft’s by Air India. Once the premier airline and long hauls routes most sought after, this airline has been made bankrupts thanks to the ex-minister of civil aviation. We fail to understand when we buy any house hold good, we negotiate with the suppliers and try to get maximum discounts etc. But when we buy billions of US Dollars worth of aircraft’s from public money, we don’t care to negotiate and on the contrary pay more for obvious reasons.
What was the haste to procure huge amount of aircrafts in such a short span of time? Our worthy Group of Ministers cannot pass Lokpal Bill in 20 years but they are efficient and active enough to give approval in five months for procurement of aircrafts for Air India. Had they not approved the deal, hard earned money of ordinary citizens, which they have paid by way of taxes could have been saved. But that must have made some vested interests Poorer by few crores!
Even after procuring state of the art and latest aircrafts, what was the need to allocate revenue generating routes to private airlines. For instance, I remember flying on Delhi – Toronto and Delhi – Los Angeles routes on which it were very difficult to get seats as these routes were overbooked throughout the year. But even after buying latest aircrafts, these routes were gifted away to private airlines for personal interests.
Our PM should take note of the allegations raised by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and should thoroughly get the matter investigated and guilty minister should be punished and sent to prestigious Tihar Jail as early as possible.
