Flying freebies

If limitless largesse from government is the founding principle on which Air India seems to run and fly,why shouldn’t its top bosses and their families be deluged with more and more of it — and for evermore,if possible? The human resources committee of the carrier has found the temerity to propose to the Air India board that its CMD and numerous directors and general managers,along with their spouses,parents,siblings and children,be given free air tickets. It,in fact,has a painstakingly designed hierarchy of handouts for various officers,serving and retired,and their family members. And when officers pass away,the favours will be passed on a generation like heirlooms.

The panel’s suggestion is amazing not just because of the losses it could pile up for the already enormous burden of the bankrupt carrier — Air India has incurred a loss of Rs 6,994 crore in 2010-11 and its debt burden,including working capital loans,has grown to around Rs 44,000 crore — but also because this is symptomatic of chronic financial irresponsibility displayed by government downward when it comes to the state carrier. According to the civil aviation minister himself,only two of Air India’s 175 domestic and international flight routes met total cost in April-September,but it doesn’t think twice about giving performance-linked initiatives to its underperforming employees. Just a month ago,the government caved in when pilots threatened to quit because they found it intolerable that a few others were being trained for Air India’s dream purchase,the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It’s a financial mess made worse by incompetent management of human resources. But even the CAG,who ferreted out details of the carrier’s appalling number of delays and misconnections and the rate at which passengers are abandoning it,prescribed for it a more protective sarkari umbrella. When it’s so coddled,is it surprising that a panel has come up with a self-serving proposal such as this — instead of a roadmap for cutting down on losses?

It should not be tolerated though. It should be seen for what it is — for showing yet again how entrenched the anti-reformist drivel of the airline has become.