He said the government of Karnataka had signed the agreement with private players to facilitate air travel and not to put travellers into hardship.
"Commercial contracts and investments made in good faith in our state must not be put at risk. At the same time, it is the government's obligation and responsibility to ensure public interest is best served. Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) and its shareholders must as well be reasonable towards a solution - that as long as their investments make reasonable returns, they shouldn't push to maintain a monopoly," he urged.
Countering an argument which being put forward by BIAL that there is a clause in the agreement that there should be no civil airport within a 150 km radius of the new airport, he said when a business wants to operate in a community, it is not advisable for it to go against the community.
"If a commercial contract comes in the way of the public interest, it is important to examine in detail the background of the commercial contract and see how it can be unwound with no prejudice to the investors," he said.
He further added: "Remember Enron. They too had a contract with the Maharashtra government which involved a high cost of power. Citizens opposed it and the government had to eventually renegotiate the power purchase agreement. The same is bound to happen in the case of the new airport and a collision should be avoided keeping citizens' interests in mind."
Pointing out that the access road is already clogged even before the airport is operational, he predicted that there are bound to be altercations when traffic grows after the airport opens.
Chandrasekhar suggested that as an interim solution, the existing HAL airport should handle domestic flights for two years until the access routes to the new airport are in place.
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