Assam: Employees of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport on August 20 staged a protest. The protest was staged due to the privatization of the airport.
On August 19, the Cabinet gave its approval to lease out Guwahati airport through PPP. Also, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram airports are on the list of airports to be leased out.
The protest was staged in front of the Office of the North East Regional Executive Director. The regional office falls under the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The protest took place from 1 pm to 2 pm.
The AAI Joint Forum of Unions and Associations took the initiative of the protest. The joint forum urged the employees to take part in the protest. The protest was staged against the privatization and leasing out of Guwahati airport through PPP.
The AAI Joint Forum and employees staged the protest with slogans like:
‘Reverse the decision to privatize Guwahati airport’, ‘Maintain the identity of Indian Airport Authority’ and ‘Alas! Central Government’.
It is to be noted that the Central Government decided to privatize three airports in India. The three airports are Guwahati Airport, Jaipur Airport, and Thiruvananthapuram Airport. Adani Enterprises won the rights to run the three airports through the PPP model. The Enterprise got the rights after a competitive bidding process last February.