AI won8217;t tolerate any idiscipline: Patel

Asked whether more employees would be sacked for going on strike,he said,8221;If they airline management feel,they are free to do it,we will not come into the picture.8221;

He distanced the government from the airline management8217;s decision to derecognise two unions and terminating the services of union leaders,saying it was for the management to take any decision.

Patel said the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines was a long-term process and there had been 8220;opposition8221; from within and 8220;systematic effort8221; was made to ensure that it did not succeed.

8220;I will tell you that there has been opposition from within and systematic effort to see that the merger does not succeed8230; by a lot of people in the organisation. Now some of the unions also have to be blamed for that,8221; he said.

Accepting that merger was delayed but it was not a wrong step,he said merger is not a single day process. 8220;It was envisaged as a three to five year process8230; to say that it is internally or inherently flawed is wrong.

8220;It has been delayed 8211; Yes. The fact is,who has to make it work 8211; the organisation. But I still feel,if these people do not make it work,they will be losers in the long run,8221; Patel said,adding that the merger should not be blamed for all the problems of Air India.

8220;I would like to put across8230;. if there are any problems,if there are losses and if they are systemic issues.. please do not put one attribute of merger. That is another issue,8221; he said.

8220;Even today,there are two streams in the organisation 8211; one is domestic operations,which was earlier the Indian Airlines,and the other is Air India. But that doesn8217;t mean that anything is fundamentally wrong with the orgainsation. It takes time for the whole pyramid to build,8221; he said.

The Civil Aviation Minister said,8221;It is not that I conceived the merger. This merger discussion is going on in the Ministry from the days of J R D Tata. .. chances were taken but nothing really fructified. Eventually it happened.8221;

Patel referred to the mergers of Jet Airways-Air Sahara,Air Deccan-Kingfisher and internationally Continental and United Airlines in the US and asserted that 8220;merger per se is absolutely sound8221;.

Asked if Air India was not worth reviving and what would convince him to 8220;shut it down and consigning it to history8221;,he said,8221;I cannot take the call for shutting it down and consigning it to history. Its a larger call that government of India has to take. ..Don8217;t say that everything is wrong in Air India.8221;

8220;You are raising a larger issue whether the government should be running the airlines or not 8230; running a public sector airline is far different from private sector running airlines8221;.

Asked why the government was not ready to privatise it and hand it over to professional hands,he said,8221;There were attempts in the past8230; during the NDA regime,when they tried there were few takers and that is the reason why it didn8217;t get privatised.8221;

On whether new Air India COO Gustav Baldauf would be given a free hand to operate or would he face interference,Patel said,8221;Not at all. He will be given freedom8230; even today there is full freedom,do not think we run it from Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan8221;.

Patel said the new COO and the independent Board of Directors were undertaking a lot of activism to revive the airlines. 8220;They are free to do whatever they think in their wisdom is good for Air India.8221;

Observing that there was a misconception that 8220;everything happens out of the Ministry8221; in Air India,he said 8220;unfortunately,for all the bad things that happen there we get blame. Its okay8230; I mean we are not absolving ourselves8230; we stand by but the fact is they have the autonomy and I wish they exercise it in the best interests of Air India.8221;