Montek defends airport review, tells Patel don’t blame us

Ahluwalia and Patel have been caught in a war of words ever since the Planning Commission called a sudden review of Delhi airport’s upgradation on Monday, pulling up officials from Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), using some harsh words.

Even Patel minced no words in his reply to Ahluwalia, writing that the Plan Panel had constantly delayed airport projects, starting with the bidding process for Delhi and Mumbai airports and now pushing back modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports.

“The notion that we are holding back is perhaps not correct,” Ahluwalia said on Wednesday. He also dismissed the minister’s charge that the commission’s “constant objections” had delayed the upgradation of Kolkata and Chennai airports. “There is a whole process through which government projects move,” he said.

With questions being raised about how the Planning Commission suddenly came to hold a review of the Delhi airport’s upgradation status, Ahluwalia hit back saying monitoring was an important function of the panel.

“The review that I did was a routine review,” Ahluwalia said, on the meeting with officials of DIAL, that sparked the row between him and Patel. “It is an important part of management that the Planning Commission looks at.”

At the review, DIAL was told that its upgradation of the Delhi airport was a complete failure and had added to the congestion there instead of decongesting it. DIAL was also slammed for its “slow progress”, saying this was creating a perception that even getting private partners to assist with upgradation was not helping.

Ahluwalia is said to have told DIAL officials that the miserable situation at the Delhi airport was also hurting the country’s global image as the capital was the gateway for thousands of foreigners and visitors coming to India.