On a day
Comptroller and Auditor General termed
Air India's expansion plan as a huge waste, former civil aviation minister Praful Patel said the government auditor's report was not an indictment, but an observation.
Patel told
Headlines Today, all the decisions were taken by the government and "not by me individually". He said the decisions that were taken during his tenure were part of government's "decision-making process".
In fact, it was the EGoM, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the government that took the steps, "which was not taken in a hurry".
"Acquisition plans were in the pipeline since 1996 till 2004, when the government had little choice but to take some decisions, that too were taken over a full 17 months after due consultations with the CCEA," Patel told
Headlines Today on Thursday.
"A decision of such magnitude cannot be taken in haste," he said, adding, the finance ministry, the Planning Commission and all others concerned had sat to discuss the way forward.
Patel admitted that there were financial problems with the aviation ministry, but things needed not be seen selectively. "They should be seen in totality of circumstances," he said.
The former civil aviation minister said the decision for capacity expansion and merger (of AI & AI) had to do with competition in the market, with the domestic sector having witnessed a 300 per cent growth and international sector having registered 200 per cent growth.
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