Adani Group To Take Over Airports Of Jaipur, Guwahati And Thiruvananthapuram In 3 Months
The Centre today informed Parliament that the Adani Group has been given a three-months extension for taking over airports of Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, after the concessionaire had initially sought a six-months extension citing force majeure factors due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia while replying to a question on taking over of airports by private entities, asked by Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra in Lok Sabha, said that while Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports are yet to be handed over to the Adani group, the airports at Mangaluru, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow had been taken over by the conglomerate in October and November 2020, after the concessionaire had invoked force majeure and sought an extension of 205 days for taking over these airports.
The concerned airports had been handed over to the Adani Group within the extension period, Mr Scindia told Lok Sabha.
As per the original understanding between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Adani Group, the private concessionaire was supposed to take over the airports of Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram by July 2021, however in June this year the Adani Group had sought six months extension from AAI citing force majeure factors owing to the pandemic.
"AAI had granted three months extension (to Adani group) in this regard," Mr Scindia said in a written reply to the question put forth by the TMC MP.
Mr Scindia said that AAI did not face any losses due to the concessionaire's delay in taking possession of the three airports.
"The revenue from the three airports namely Guwahati, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram will continue to be received by AAI till the handing over of these airports to the concessionaire (Adani group)," the Civil Aviation minister said in his reply.
