BJP today demanded a Parliamentary probe into allegations of corruption and mismanagement in Air India and blamed government policies for grave financial situation in the national carrier.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, party leader Prakash Javadekar said the condition of Air India is worsening and it was on the brink of a collapse.
"The policy, rules and leadership of the civil aviation ministry is hell bent on finishing Air India. Civil aviation minister is the sultan (of the sector)," Javadekar said, demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into the issue to save the national carrier.
Citing a Parliamentary Committee report, he said the merger of Air India with Indian Airlines has proved fatal. The committee had also said the merger and abandoning profitable routes had only helped private airlines like Jet Airways.
"Indian Airlines was created by an Act of Parliament. It's merger with Air India should also have been approved by Parliament," Javadekar said, adding that the infusion of Rs800 crore is of no use. Air India is burdened with a loss of Rs5,550 crore.
In separate mentions, Brinda Karat [CPI(M)] and Shivanand Tewari [JD(U)] demanded waiver of loans for handloom weavers, who are protesting in the national capital against their worsening conditions.
They demanded that most of the handloom weavers were Dalit Muslims, who should be provided SC/ST status on the lines of
recommendations of Ranganath Misra Commission report. Concerned over incidents of sex rackets by so-called godmen, Prabhat Jha (BJP) asked whether there is any law to punish these people. He asked media, mainly television news channels, to exercise restraint while reporting these incidents.
Kalraj Mishra (BJP) sought to draw attention of the government towards increasing cases of child kidnapping reported recently in Uttar Pradesh. He urged the Centre to intervene to stop the menace.
In her special mention, Najma Heptulla (BJP) said the central government should help return of Indians stranded in Afghanistan, who were duped by unauthorised recruitment agents. She also wanted the government to crackdown on thenetwork of these illegal agents.
Ram Prakash (Congress) demanded a law to end discrimination against HIV-infected persons and their children.
Moin-ul-Hassan [CPI(M)] sought an end to outsourcing of passport services to private companies as it is a sensitive issue.
P Rajeev [CPI(M)] raised the issue of difficulties faced by NRIs and said the existing immigration Act is outdated. In another mention, he sought financial assistance to mentally retarded children from the central government.
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