The Congress on Saturday said the monopoly creation encouraged by the Narendra Modi government had allowed the Adani group to fleece consumers in several sectors, particularly airports and power. “The Adani-operated Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India’s 11th busiest airport, has proposed an exorbitant increase in the user development fee (UDF) paid by passengers,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said.
“If approved by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), user fees will rise from Rs 192 to Rs 1,025 for domestic passengers and Rs 561 to Rs 2,756 for international passengers by fiscal year 2025-26.”
The AERA has already approved an about six-fold user fee increase for domestic passengers and a 12-fold userfee increase for international passengers flying out of the Adani-operated Ahmedabad airport by 2025-26.
In the case of the Adani-operated Mangalore airport, the AERA has outdone itself by not only hiking user fees for departing passengers but also imposing them on arriving passengers.
“Is this not the inevitable outcome of your decision to grant an airports monopoly to your friend Gautam Adani by handing him six out of six airports over the objections of the Niti Aayog and the ministry of finance?” Ramesh asked Prime Minister Modi.
Ramesh asked: “Will customers have to pay out of their pockets for the electoral bonds that your cronies are transferring to the BJP’s coffers?”
Carrying on with his HAHK (Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun) series, Ramesh said: “In 2008, Adani Power signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Haryana’s state-owned power distribution companies to supply 1,424 megawatts (MW) of electricity for 25 years at a levelised tariff of Rs 2.94 per unit.
“After Indonesian coal prices rose, Adani fought a legal battle to increase the levelised tariff which ended when the Supreme Court stated on 11 April 2017 that a change in Indonesian coal regulations does not qualify as a change in the law that triggers a PPA revision.”
Ramesh added: “Nevertheless, Adani began to default on its power supply obligations from December 2020, forcing Haryana to buy spot electricity at Rs 11.55 per unit. Far from recovering what it was due, the Manohar Lal Khattar government decided to approve a supplementary PPA on 27 June 2022 through which it will procure a reduced 1,200MW from Adani at Rs 3.54 per unit and will source the remaining 224MW at a far higher price from Adani.
“Did you pressurise Khattar to bail out your croni es yet again? How many thousands of crores of rupees will be fleeced from Haryana consumers by Adani to pay for the BJP’s electoral bonds?”
Ramesh continued: “On 1 March 2023, Adani Power made a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange and to the National Stock Exchange that it had signed supplementary PPAs with Haryana’s two power distribution companies. However, no such PPA had been signed at that time. Was this a crude attempt to shore up flagging Adani share prices? Will this be yet another case of (market regulator) Sebi turning a blind eye to blatant violations and deceptions by your favourite business group?”
