A report on the functioning of Air India by the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG), tabled in Parliament today, squarely blames the
civil aviation ministry for the financial quagmire in which the national
carrier finds itself.
One of the basic reasons found by CAG for the mess is that crores of rupees were wasted in the ''risky'' purchase and leasing of aircraft. It adds that one 'defective' contract with Airbus led to a loss of Rs200 crore.
The report also calls the merger of Air India with its counterpart Indian Airlines, which ran services within the country, as "ill-timed".
Alleging lack of due diligence, it says that no benchmark assessment of the cost of the aircraft was carried out before negotiations for buying them, and the acquisitions seemed to be merely supply driven.
The report points out that Air India was carrying a debt of Rs38,234 crore as of March 2011. It added that Air India hastily reworked its earlier acquisition plan.
The acquisition of aircraft was to be funded through debt, which was a disastrous move and should have rung alarm bells in the aviation ministry and the Planning Commission.
Most of what the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) has now reported on the Air India merger has been public knowledge thanks to the media (“CAG blames ministry for AI mess,” July 9). This merger is a fit case study to illustrate the dangers of an ill-planned merger. The accumulated losses have already crossed Rs 15,000 crore and there is no hope of even a short-term recovery in sight. Yet there has been no detailed debate on this ill-fated merger even once in Parliament.
The decline in ministerial vision and leadership is another cause of concern. Fifty-five years ago, our nation had successfully founded the Life Insurance Corporation of India by merging as many as 243 private insurance companies in a short period of time solely because of ministerial vision and leadership accompanied by the able involvement of the civil services in managing a successful integration process. It is the absence of these essential traits in the current generation of ministers and civil servants that is the cause for the dismal situation of Air India.
time has come we ask a straight question ( if anyone hears that is ) whose national career is it anyways ? do the tax payers have a say end of the day/ is it just the pilots at the alter as usual or should earlier civili aviation ministry (read ministers ) be made accountable for the gross puppetry that air india has been subjected to?
Mr Praful Patel are you listening ?
One of the basic reasons found by CAG for the mess is that crores of rupees were wasted in the ''risky'' purchase and leasing of aircraft. It adds that one 'defective' contract with Airbus led to a loss of Rs200 crore.
The report also calls the merger of Air India with its counterpart Indian Airlines, which ran services within the country, as "ill-timed".
Alleging lack of due diligence, it says that no benchmark assessment of the cost of the aircraft was carried out before negotiations for buying them, and the acquisitions seemed to be merely supply driven.
The report points out that Air India was carrying a debt of Rs38,234 crore as of March 2011. It added that Air India hastily reworked its earlier acquisition plan.
The acquisition of aircraft was to be funded through debt, which was a disastrous move and should have rung alarm bells in the aviation ministry and the Planning Commission.
Most of what the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) has now reported on the Air India merger has been public knowledge thanks to the media (“CAG blames ministry for AI mess,” July 9). This merger is a fit case study to illustrate the dangers of an ill-planned merger. The accumulated losses have already crossed Rs 15,000 crore and there is no hope of even a short-term recovery in sight. Yet there has been no detailed debate on this ill-fated merger even once in Parliament.
The decline in ministerial vision and leadership is another cause of concern. Fifty-five years ago, our nation had successfully founded the Life Insurance Corporation of India by merging as many as 243 private insurance companies in a short period of time solely because of ministerial vision and leadership accompanied by the able involvement of the civil services in managing a successful integration process. It is the absence of these essential traits in the current generation of ministers and civil servants that is the cause for the dismal situation of Air India.
time has come we ask a straight question ( if anyone hears that is ) whose national career is it anyways ? do the tax payers have a say end of the day/ is it just the pilots at the alter as usual or should earlier civili aviation ministry (read ministers ) be made accountable for the gross puppetry that air india has been subjected to?
Mr Praful Patel are you listening ?
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