A total of five airports in Maharashtra which were leased to the financially distressed Anil Ambani’s Reliance group, will be taken back by the state government.
This was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state assembly on Friday (21 July), while responding to the issue of regional connectivity.
The Maharashtra government had awarded five airports — Baramati, Nanded, Latur, Yavatmal, and Osmanabad to Reliance Airport Developers Private Limited (RADPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure led by Anil Ambani, for 30 years in 2009.
RADPL had emerged as the highest bidder, securing the project for all five airports with a bid of Rs 63 crore in an auction conducted by the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in 2009 to enhance air connectivity in Maharashtra.
All of them are non-functional currently and the decision to take them back has been taken due to poor maintenance and non-payment of statutory dues.
“RADPL is not doing maintenance of the airports and even not paying the statutory dues because of which Nanded airport was shut down. We will discuss the legalities of taking possession of the airports with the advocate general. The state government will also pay all the dues for the five airports and recover the amount from the firm,” said Fadnavis.
The government is planning to set up a dedicated authority for efficient airport management, Fadnavis said. A decision on this matter is expected within the next three months, he added.
