Air India divestment not possible in near future: Government
New Delhi, July 18 : The Government on Wednesday ruled out disinvestment of Air India in the "immediate near future," though it said it remains committed to completing the process.
Saying that the present environment is "not conducive" for it, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told Rajya Sabha that the issue would be revisited once global economic indicators, including oil prices and forex conditions, stabilize.
The Ministry would, in the meanwhile, focus on near and medium-term efforts to "capture operational efficiencies" to improve the performance of Air India, along with "monetising non-core land and building assets", Sinha said.
The government had invited Expression of Interest (EoI) on March 28 this year for disinvestment of Air India including the national carrier's share-holding interest in the Air India Express Ltd. and Air India SATS. But, it received no response till May 31, the closing day.
"The government remains committed to the disinvestment... The Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) has decided that in view of volatile crude prices and adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, the present environment is not conducive to stimulate interest among investors for strategic disinvestment of Air India in the immediate near future," Sinha said.
The government has also decided to separately deal with the mode of disposal of the subsidiaries such as Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) and Airline Allied Services Limited (AASL).
He said the probable reasons for the lack of interest among bidders include the government's 24 per cent stake and corresponding rights, a high amount of allocated debt, changes in macro environment, individuals not being allowed to bid, the profitability track record, and bidders not being able to form a consortium within the time-frame.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
