AAI staff protest handover of six airports to Adani

Mumbai: Thousands of AAI employees and officers under a joint forum on Monday held demonstrations at the AAI's headquarters in New Delhi and at airports across India to protest handing over of six airports to Adani group.

The hour-long "peaceful" demonstrations were held during lunch time without disruption in work, said an official of the Joint Forum of AAI (Airports Authority of India) Unions and Associations.

Last year, the government decided to privatise airports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati for operations, management and development throughthe public-private partnership (PPP) model.

In February, Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) won the rights to run these six airports after competitive bidding.

"Our members, including officers, today held demonstration at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan (which houses AAI headquarters along with the civil aviation ministry) and at various other AAI-run airports in the country to register our protest against handing over of six airports to Adani Group and its plans to privatise many more," the Forum official said.

The demonstration, however, could not be held at AAI- run airports in Maharashtra due to a public holiday in the state, he said.

The AAI manages around 120 airports in the country with a workforce of around 17,000.

The AAI unions/associations recently formed the Forum to "protect and safeguard the AAI and interests of its employees beside explaining the impact of the

privatisation".