UPA returns Maya House favour: GoM on Gr Noida airport set up

Asked whether the GoM had been set up as a quid pro quo for the BSP’s support in the Lok Sabha,Patel said this evening,“Not at all. A GoM had been constituted during UPA-I and post-elections,it has now been reconstituted to look into the Greater Noida proposal.”

The UP government wants the airport some 80 km from the Capital at Jewar,to be called the Taj International Aviation Hub. Chief Minister Mayawati has been pushing for it for long,and has submitted a techno-feasibility study to the Centre. UP has already identified 1,500 hectares for the project,which was then estimated to cost Rs 3,505 crore.

The GMR-led consortium that operates the Delhi airport had however,objected strongly,citing its Operations Management and Development Agreement with the AAI,which says that no airport can be built within 150 km of the existing airport at Delhi.

UPA managers indicated that the reconstitution of the GoM was intended to find ways to overcome the legal hurdles to the Greater Noida airport proposal. “That is the reason why the GoM has members who are legal experts,” said an UPA leader.

Mayawati’s surprise move to back the UPA at the Centre prompted allegations of a behind-the-scenes deal with the Congress. The CBI told the Supreme Court last week that it would consider Mayawati’s plea to close the disproportionate assets case against her. A week before the vote on the cut motion in the Lok Sabha,BSP MPs called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and appealed to him to clear the Greater Noida airport proposal.

The BJP described the reconstitution of the GoM as “an outright move to placate the newfound ally BSP”. Spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said,“The BJP stands vindicated for the action by the government to promptly set up a GoM and convene its meeting only means an underhand deal.”