New Delhi:
Members in Rajya Sabha raised strong objections to levying of heavy user charges on passengers by the Delhi Airport and demanded modifications in the rules brought through an executive order last year.
Airports regulator AERA has decided to raise airport charges by a whopping 346 per cent for two years as a result of which a passenger will have to shell out an additional Rs 290 in the domestic sector and Rs 580 in the international sector.
Raising the issue through a statutory motion, K N Balagopal (CPI-M) sought modifications in the Airports Authority of India (Major Airports) Development Fees Rules, 2011.
He demanded that money already collected to the tune of Rs 1,481 crores by the airport management, which is being run in a PPP model, should be deposited in a separate account and utilised for improving facilities of airports run by Airports Authority of India. The member also sought a thorough audit of such funds by the CAG.
Members from several parties opposed the levying of user charges from both embarking and disembarking passengers at the Delhi airport and held that these charges were the highest here in comparison to other airports in the world.
Balagopal said the particular rule is "basically illegal" and "ultra vires of the Constitution" and that private operators are "siphoning off" public money in the name of cost over-run, which needs to be audited.
Noting that they have reservations against this kind of user fee, Balagopal said, "...do not kill the hen that lays golden eggs...This is an open case of loot. They can make profit of 10 per cent, 15 per cent of 25 per cent but 300 per cent of profit is not acceptable."
Najma Heptulla (BJP) said as government slept for years in formulating the rules, private operators kept charging user fee from passengers. She said levying user charges on both the embarking and disembarking passengers was unacceptable.