A cloak and dagger battle is on after the formation of a GOM (Group of Ministers) committee on Civil Aviation Policy.
One major airline operator, with alleged underworld links, takes the credit of denying Sharad Pawar the chairmanship of the GOM. If this is true, the strong man of Maharashtra has been literally humbled by a man who was once his main equity.
The fear that Pawar might vote for Shekhawat and derail Prathibha Patil has receded rapidly for some unknown reason. But what actually a matter to Sharad Pawar is not who is the occupant of Raisina Hill. What matters is the all-important deal for a competitor airline to operate foreign routes even before the mandatory five years of domestic existence.
The new civil aviation policy will come into operation from January 1, 2008. Although Pranab Mukherjee heads the GOM, Pawar is a member along with P Chidambaram, T R Baalu and Praful Patel .
To keep Sharad Pawar under check, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has ordered an IB probe (ostensibly under the instigation of the all-powerful senior competitor) into the deal struck between Indian (Airlines) and a foreign company to pledge seven aircraft of Indian.
The IB sleuths in their detailed report have indicted Viswapati Trivedi, MD of Indian. Apparently, this will embarrass Praful and Pawar more !!
To make things worse, the PMO has asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to study how Indian's aircraft can be pledged without authorisation by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The outcome could possibly be the cancellation of the MOU between "Indian" and the German company. So, Hassan Ali is not the only nightmare for Sharad Pawar !!!
Page no 35, Para 2/09 and 2/10 of the draft civil aviation:
One major airline operator, with alleged underworld links, takes the credit of denying Sharad Pawar the chairmanship of the GOM. If this is true, the strong man of Maharashtra has been literally humbled by a man who was once his main equity.
The fear that Pawar might vote for Shekhawat and derail Prathibha Patil has receded rapidly for some unknown reason. But what actually a matter to Sharad Pawar is not who is the occupant of Raisina Hill. What matters is the all-important deal for a competitor airline to operate foreign routes even before the mandatory five years of domestic existence.
The new civil aviation policy will come into operation from January 1, 2008. Although Pranab Mukherjee heads the GOM, Pawar is a member along with P Chidambaram, T R Baalu and Praful Patel .
To keep Sharad Pawar under check, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has ordered an IB probe (ostensibly under the instigation of the all-powerful senior competitor) into the deal struck between Indian (Airlines) and a foreign company to pledge seven aircraft of Indian.
The IB sleuths in their detailed report have indicted Viswapati Trivedi, MD of Indian. Apparently, this will embarrass Praful and Pawar more !!
To make things worse, the PMO has asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to study how Indian's aircraft can be pledged without authorisation by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The outcome could possibly be the cancellation of the MOU between "Indian" and the German company. So, Hassan Ali is not the only nightmare for Sharad Pawar !!!
Page no 35, Para 2/09 and 2/10 of the draft civil aviation:
Policy deals with the foreign route for Indian private air operators.
A sentence states that the Civil Aviation Ministry shall on "case by case basis issue permits to private operator to fly certain routes." The other private airline operator, allegedly with dubious links, has enlisted the support of P Chidambaram to oppose this clause.
So who wins -- the one with jet-speed or the king of good times? That will be finally decided on a suitcase by suitcase basis!!!
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