Kerala CM Vijayan writes to PM Modi urging him to reconsider decision on Thiruvananthapuram airport

Thiruvananthapuram: After the Centre's approval to lease out Thiruvananthapuram airport through public-private partnership (PPP), Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his concern and urging the PM to reconsider the decision. 

The letter conveying the views of the all party meeting to PM Modi was shared on microblogging site Twitter via CMO Kerala profile. The tweet said: "The overwhelming view of the meeting was that Trivandrum International Airport's management and operation need to vest with the State Government."

The Chief Minister has conveyed the views of the all party meeting through a letter written to the Hon'ble @PMOIndia. The overwhelming view of the meeting was that Trivandrum International Airport's management and operation need to vest with the State Government. pic.twitter.com/SRKcMb3Yxw — CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 20, 2020

In the letter, the Chief Minister said that a meeting of leaders of all political parties in the state was convened through a video conference on August 20, Thursday and the overwhelming view among the leaders was that "given the unique place the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has in the history of the State, its management and operation needs to vest with the state government".

Vijayan said he had written another letter to the Prime Minister on August 19 to express his government`s concerns regarding the Union cabinet's decision on the airport. He said the state government's repeated requests to hand over the management and operation of the airport to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in which the state government is a stakeholder was ignored.

"The near consensus that emerged in the meeting was that considering the assistance which the state has rendered wholeheartedly, the Central Government should not have ignored the rightful claim of the former for management and operation of the Trivandrum International Airport," the letter said.

The letter further said that the state government through its SPV, which participated in the bid, had expressed willingness to match the offer of the highest bidder. In these circumstances, it was felt by the leaders that there is no justification for overlooking the claim of the state, the letter stated.

Vijayan pointed out that a resolution dated August 11, 2018 had been passed in state assembly and a collective request was made to the Center to "not privatise the airport". 

On Wednesday, the union cabinet had approved the proposal to lease out Thiruvananthapuram and two other airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP) for "operation, management and development" to Adani Enterprises Ltd for a period of 50 years.

Meanwhile, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that the Kerala government didn't qualify in Thiruvananthapuram airport's bidding process that was carried out in a transparent manner.

Puri said, before the bidding process, the Centre and the Kerala government had agreed that if the KSIDC's bid comes within the 10 per cent range of the winning bid, it would be awarded the airport. However, since the difference between Adani's bid and KSIDC's bid was 19.64 per cent during the bidding process, the former qualified as the winner.