After talking about the losses incurred on the coal mines, the CAG report had concentrated on the Indira Gandhi International Airport and finds several faults with it. The government however contends that the reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General were not accurate and defends both private and public sectors from the arguments that privatization has caused many losses to the government in its detailed defense against the reports.
According to CAG reports 1.63 lakh crores worth loss had been incurred by leasing lands inefficiently. Later the CAG has bashed upon the Delhi government which had granted permissions to the Delhi Airport syndicate to levy a surcharge on the tickets towards a development fee that was being collected to secure funds for the project. The auditor mentions that this was not a part of the project as planned. DIAL, the Delhi International Airport Limited is entitled to an undue benefits in excess of 3,400 crore with the new surcharges which range from Rs 400 to Rs 2600 depending on the mode and distance of travel, Domestic or International.
The IGIA is a public-private partnership between GMR group and government's Airports Authority of India, AAI, while the former owns a 54% stake. Other international airport authorities also have a minor stake in the airport that was in operation since 2006.
The auditor pointed out that the high rebate for the 4800 acre area leased out to the airport could have been used efficiently. CAG report mentions that 239 acres of the land could have been used for shops that could have earned over 1.63 lakh crores while running at a nominal price of Rs.100 an year.
Countering the statement the public-private partnership had rebuked the claims saying that the money indicated as a prospective profits that could have been earned is merely the absolute amount of revenues that could have been accumulated by DIAL in the 58 years of time and hence “does not represent the time value of money”.
CAG argued that DIAL was allowed to extend its contract (for Operations, Maintenance and Development of the airport) for another 30 years which is not a permitted move for a renewal or an extension on identical terms. But the government had argued that CAG's claims were factually flawed and that the extension of the contract was approved by Empowered Group of Ministers (EgoM) which was formed after a cabinet note in 2003.
(AW- Anil)
