Don’t judge PSUs only on profit and loss: RSS-affiliated trade union slams govt over Air India sale

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an RSS-affiliated trade union, on Tuesday slammed the Centre’s plan to privatise Air India. It urged the government to think “a hundred times” before going for privatisation of the airline.
“While calculating profit and loss of Air India, we need to think of the fact that Air India has been operating many of the low-profit or loss-making routes only to serve the passenger and connecting people with one another, promoting national unity; no private player will operate like that. Privatisation of AI can have a cascading impact; like many of those airports which would lose flights may face further crises; many of the emerging cities may face the crisis of connectivity, etc,” BMS said in a statement.

The Centre on Monday sweetened its offer for the sale of the debt-laden carrier. The government now intends to offload its 100% stake from 76% proposed in a 2018 attempt. Apart from retaining a large part of the debt, the government has also restrained a provision that substantial ownership and effective control of the airline must remain with an Indian entity.

“Keeping these issues in mind, BMS urges the government to think a hundred times before going for disinvestment of Air India,” BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said.

Saying that it was “unfortunate” that PSUs were being sold in the name of resource mobilisation to fund social spending, BMS said selling PSUs to private players will not help the government as privatisation would not free the government from its responsibilities.

It further said that judging the performance of PSUs solely on the basis of monetary profit and loss is a wrong practice as the aims and objectives of these PSEs are different from those of the private sector enterprises.
“PSEs are to serve the nation, to create decent jobs, decent living standards, decent consumption and responsible social behaviour,” it added.

Source: Financial Express