Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF launched an indefinite protest against the move to privatize the Trivandrum International Airport on Thursday—the closing day of the submission of bids to select private players for the operations, management and development of the airport.Trivandrum international airport is among the six airports, proposed to be given on lease by the central government on private-public partnership model (PPP) model.The protest conducted at the domestic terminal of the airport was inaugurated by LDF state convener A Vijayaraghavan. He alleged that the privatisation bid is an election fund-raising programme of the BJP.Earlier, the LDF had observed a ‘Black Day’ in December, when the central government went forward with its decision to include Trivandrum airport in the bid and asked the state government to participate in the bidding process.The state government formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV), the Trivandrum International Airport Limited, to participate in the bidding process.Allegations have been raised that the LDF launched the indefinite strike after it realized that the possibilities were dim for the state government to win the bid.The protest conducted by the airport authority employees at the airport has crossed 73 days, with taxi drivers’ union also extending its support.The AAI employees said that the government can still prevent the privatisation bid by refusing to agree with the PPP model.The Trivandrum Airport Users Group, a collective of city residents who frequently travel through Trivandrum airport, has planned to conduct a counter-protest against the indefinite protest launched against privatisation bid. They plan to hold the protest in the weekend. “Our aim is to mobilize more airport users who would speak about the need for privatisation of the airport,” said Robin K Rajan, a member of the collective.

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