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Flights hit in Kolkata, violence in Mumbai
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service
CPM leader Brinda Karat addresses airport employees during their nationwide strike against privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.
— Tribune photo by Rajeev Tyagi |
New Delhi, February 1
As employees of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) all over the country went on a strike in protest against the privatisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, the government today threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to ensure smooth functioning of the airports. While the authorities claimed that flight schedule at major airports remained unaffected, except in Kolkata where the ATC declared the airport “non-operational”, the impact of the strike was felt at almost all airports. The passengers at most of the airports complained of lack of services and inordinate delays, besides the lack of facilities at the airports. The Indian Air Force (IAF) on the other hand gave an assurance that it had operationalised its contingency plans, including pressing into service its emergency rescue cruise and air-traffic controllers. “We have operationalised contingency plans,” Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Ajit Bhavanani told reporters here. Reports coming in from around the country said there was chaos at most of the airports. Apart from complaints of delayed landings, the passengers said they had problems finding trolleys for their luggage and that the toilets at the airport were not clean. In Delhi, in the absence of the airport staff, the AAI roped in Sulabh International, an NGO, for the maintenance of toilets there. While 10 personnel from the NGO were deployed inside the airport, four to five were taking care of the cleanliness outside. However, the main
drama was in Kolkata where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the Netaji SC Bose International Airport issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) in the afternoon, as per which no flight could take off or land, after the fire brigade personnel and those in charge of lighting at the runway joined the agitation.The ATC in Delhi did not join the strike.In Mumbai, the strike was marred by violence in which five persons were injured as the police resorted to lathi-charge to prevent some workers from storming the airport terminal building by breaking the cordon. The AAI Employees Union, however, claimed that about 25 persons were injured and taken to Nanavati Hospital and other nearby medical centres. The working at most of the country’s 40 airports was ensured by officials and engineers who were not participating in the agitation. “No disruption or delay in flight operations has been reported so far. We all are ensuring smooth functioning of the services,” AAI spokesperson Premnath said here. There was no report of any untoward incident elsewhere as AAI workers staged demonstrations raising anti-government and anti-Sonia Gandhi slogans outside most of the airports but did not block the movement of people. Effigies of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel were burnt by striking workers outside the Delhi airport as there was a strong presence of security personnel at the Ministry of Civil Aviation at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan. The security had been tightened at the airports with additional deployment of CISF and CRPF personnel. While reports from Chandigarh, Jaipur, Imphal, Dimapur, Bagdogra, Srinagar, Coimbatore spoke of officials and employees reporting on duty as normal, spokesmen of AAI workers unions in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar said they were “going slow” on the agitation and were awaiting orders from regional leaders. Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad said here that the government could invoke ESMA if the strike continued for a longer period. “As of now, there is no plan to impose ESMA. We are watching the situation. If required, we will think about it,” he said. “We do not want to take harsh measures against the employees of the AAI. We are talking to them to ensure that there is no disruption of the air traffic,” he said. The ministry had made no contact with the employees ever since the strike began this morning, he added.
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