Maldives row: It’s also about how you treat 'underdogs'

Was there a better way to tackle the issues Maldives raised while cancelling GMR Infrastructure’s airport contract with the country? There could have been, if the Indian authorities had spared a little time to discuss the issue with the Maldives government. A report in the Economic Times today says Maldives had waited for 45 days to get an appointment with Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh to explain the local resentment against GMR’s airport, which the country claims is ruinous for it. Singh, however, did not have time to lend his ears. (One can’t complain, because he had a bigger mess here to deal with.) [caption id=“attachment_547245” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Was there a better way to tackle the issues Maldives raised while cancelling GMR Infrastructure’s airport contract with the country? AFP[/caption] Maldives wanted to seek the prime minister’s intervention and try to convince GMR for a renegotiation, Masood Imad, press secretary to Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed, has been quoted as saying in the report. So was the island nation pushed to the limits to take a hard decision? Very likely, because, as Imad says, time takes a toll on everyone. Denying Maldives’ allegation, India’s external affairs ministry says it responded but just said that Imad will be “received at an appropriate level”. Sidharth Roy Kapur, CFO of GMR Infrastructure’s airports division, says the company did not receive any communication seeking renegotiation of the deal. Both the parties seem to be hardening their stance even as the deadline nears. Nothing is clear as yet about the Indian company’s game plan. GMR, at a press conference yesterday, said it is hopeful that the Maldivian government will take honour the Singapore High Court’s stay on the contract cancellation. The company insists that it is not planning to handover the airport. In contrast is the Male government’s stance. Imad says on the ground he is getting “a clear sense of transition”. The company recently shifted some of its equipment to a nearby island, after informing its transition management team, says he in a Business Standard report . An earlier Firstpost article also said the there is local speculation that “the big discount sales at the airport’s duty-free shops are a sign of defeat of the Indian company”. In the BS report, Imad has also explained what transpired just before the contract was signed among GMR Infrastructure, Maldives Airport Company and the Maldivian government. According to him, the chairman and the board of Maldives Airport Company were against the contract. The transport minister of the erstwhile Nasheed government sacked them. The new members signed the contract within two hours of their appointment, the BS report quotes Imad as saying. He, however, said no force will be used for the transition of airport management from GMR to Maldives Airport Company. (Read GMR’s rebuttals here ) Whatever the ground situation, it is sure there is much at stake for Maldives. According to another report in the BS, holidayers from India have already started avoiding Maldives. Around 20 percent of bookings to Maldives have been already cancelled as people don’t want to take chances, the BS report said quoting Subhash Ghoyal, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators. In 2010, as much as 3.3 percent of the tourists to Maldives were Indians. India was the ninth largest market of Maldives, the BS report said.