The Hindu Business Line : Modernisation air pockets

THE Government's decision to hand over the Delhi and Mumbai airports to private parties has led to a strange development — the CPI(M) and Reliance seem to be speaking in the same voice. In the beginning, the Left protested because it apprehended that the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group would be favoured but, as the convoluted process ended, it was the Reliance group that was "shocked" at being left out.

The group's indignation can be imagined because it reacted even before the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, formally announced the successful bidders last Tuesday. The company issued a statement expressing shock and surprise at the substantial changes made to the tender conditions.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau followed with a statement on Wednesday which, among other things, said: "It is shocking that the eligibility criteria have been changed arbitrarily." Similarity of thoughts, one would say, except for the fact that, had the conditions not been changed, Reliance would have probably walked away with the Delhi airport, purely on the basis of its higher financial offer.

Incidentally, the final selection of bidders for the two airports has spawned another "theory" about the political proximity of corporate houses. One view doing the rounds is that the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group has fallen out of favour with the Central Government because of Mr Anil Ambani's close links with Mr Mulayam Singh and Mr Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party. But, so far, there are few takers for this `theory'.

Blessing, before approval

If a senior Cabinet Minister is to be believed, a "new" layer has been added to the approval process in the Government. At a recent function, one multi-national entity announced that it was in the process of securing Government approval for its India plans, when a Minister present there indicated that the plans had, indeed, been "approved."

Later, as the Minister was leaving the venue, he overheard some excited media persons discussing the "breaking news" and promptly sent over an official to clarify that the project had not yet been approved. "The Minister has just blessed the proposal," the official said, leaving the media to figure out whether projects would henceforth require a "blessing" before their approval.

An e-what?

The Government's efforts to move over to the e-world would require some glitches to be removed first.

Tempted by Indian Airlines' offer of generating an e-ticket at home and then checking in with proof of identity, a colleague opted for the morning flight from Delhi to Chennai.

Imagine his plight — right from trying to enter the departure terminal to getting a boarding pass — since no one seemed to have seen an e-ticket before.

Exasperated, he asked for the duty manager, who was not present in the early hours, but a supervisor, after making a number of calls to higher-ups, finally managed to help out the passenger.

The moral of the story — organisations opting for the e-route should first do some backroom awareness programmes before publicising the scheme.

When toll roads are cheaper!

Corporates hesitant to take up road projects because of doubts about the viability of such ventures can take heart. At a recent conference, one road sector expert shared his experience about one of the initial by-pass routes taken up.

Unsure whether truck operators would pay the toll to use the by-pass when they could travel free through the city, an informal survey was conducted among the truck drivers.

The results were startling — the truckers said they were willing to pay double the proposed toll to use the by-pass because travel through the city was costing them much more, as they had to dole out money to various civic authorities and the traffic police at numerous points within the city.

Exemplary stand

A common sight at many a VIP-dominated function is the late arrivals, people trooping in the while speeches are going on, and, sometimes, even the VIPs leaving midway, throwing the event into a certain disarray.

What merits as a definitely uncommon is the sight of a Nobel Laureate standing still for a good 10 minutes, at the back of a packed auditorium in Hyderabad a couple of weeks ago — all but incognito — and the function proceeding without hitches.

Prof Robert H. Grubbs obviously did not want to disturb the lecture by walking down the aisle or through the side door to take his seat in the first row, and divert attention away from the speaker. It could also be another matter that the lanky, over 6 feet tall, 2005 Nobel laureate for Chemistry, who silently moved out on an urgent errand, was perhaps hardly recognised by the posse of security staff or the organising volunteers.

The person who was delivering the lecture was also a distinguished Chemist, Prof Goverdhan Mehta, former Director, Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore. He also became Fellow of Royal Society in 2005, only the second organic chemist from India to be conferred this, after Prof T. R. Seshadri.

Such discipline is definitely not common in our scientific lectures and meetings, where people keep trooping in and out at their own convenience, or sometimes due to the sheer boredom of an uninspiring monologue by the speaker.

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