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Left parties oppose airport privatization |
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The UPA-Left Coordination Committee which met in New Delhi on Jan. 12, did not discuss PSU disinvestment. But the Left parties agreed to hold talks with the Government on disinvestment on a case to case basis. The UPA also agreed to discuss the alternative resource mobilisation proposals put forward by the Left parties.
On airport modernisation, the Left parties said they are opposed to privatisation, but have no objection to modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. The Government assured the Left parties that the Group of Ministers set up to take up airport modernisation will take into account the Left note on the matter. The note has demanded the scrapping of private bids for modernisation, commenting adversely on their impropriety, credibility and irregularity. The Left parties want the work of modernisation to be left to the Airports Authority of India.
Meanwhile, trade unions have threatened a nationwide strike on Jan. 20 in protest against the Labour Ministry’s notification on reducing the interest on Employees’ Provident Fund deposits to 8.5 per cent.
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