Suspended animation: A view of the terminal of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad

New Delhi, March 19 Suspense continues behind the sudden decision of the Government not to operationalise the new Hyderabad airport despite its inauguration by the UPA Chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi, on March 14.

While there is no official word on the reasons for the delay, sources suggest that it was mainly on account of the protest from airline operators against the high user charges that the promoters of the new airport are demanding in the form of ground handling charges.

There was a bit of drama behind the inauguration on March 14. Ms Sonia Gandhi is understood to have conveyed to the Civil Aviation Ministry a day before the event that she would not inaugurate the airport if the strike by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees continued. Immediately, the Ministry got into the act and organised a hurried meeting between the Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, and the union representatives where the Government promised to reconsider closing the old airport. With the strike off, grounds were cleared for the inauguration the next day.

There was another reason to complete the formal inauguration on March 14. Three years ago on March 16, 2005, Ms Gandhi had laid the foundation stone for the new airport and the Government was keen to go ahead with its inauguration to showcase a major infrastructure facility had been created in record 36 months. Apparently, the benchmark is the new Beijing airport, constructed ahead of the Olympics games there this year, that took 37 months to come up.

Inauguration over, the Government restrained the promoters from operationalising the new airport from March 16. Among other things, this ensured that there was no confrontation with the Left parties during the on-going Parliament session.

Aviation industry sources say the Government could utilise the delay to “convince” the promoters to take a re-look at the charges, apart from making a case against two airports in the city on the grounds of economic viability. “The new airport would begin operations sooner than later. If the Government can beat down the charges, it could then tell the Left parties that it had not allowed a private sector monopoly to have its way,” sources in the know said.