Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 8: The Airport Authority Employees Union (AAEU) in a letter to the Prime Minister (PM) has alleged that the amount that the Adani Group paid for three airports’ assets as per the final agreement is far less than what the Airports Authority of India’s bidding document states.
It may be recalled, Adani Group won bids for six airports namely Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati for privatisation in 2019. AAEU has alleged that the amount that the Adani Group paid for Mangaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, which Adani Enterprises has already taken over, is just a fraction of the original amount.
According to a report by The News Minute, AAEU’s letter to the PM states that the bidding document says the final bidder should have paid Rs 1,330 crore towards AAI’s existing assets, Adani only had to pay Rs 499.84 crore in the end. The letter adds that the amount to be paid towards assets were Rs 363 crore for Mangaluru airport, Rs 583 crore for Lucknow and Rs 384 crore for Ahmedabad. As per the final agreement, however, Adani had to pay Rs 74.5 crore for Mangaluru (a reduction of Rs 288.5 crore), Rs 147.93 crore for Lucknow (down by Rs 435.07 crore) and Rs 277.41 crore for Ahmedabad (down by Rs 106.59 crore).
Further, AAEU also alleges in the letter that undue advantage was given to Adani and that almost all project parameters.
Earlier in 2020, The News Minute had also reported that even in the bidding process, there were anomalies.