How not to do it — the Chandigarh way

Jupinderjit Singh in Chandigarh

The air traffic in Punjab and Chandigarh looks bleak, despite a huge demand for domestic and international destinations. In Haryana, Hisar seems to hold some promise, but that’s long haul. The Tribune team looks at the  larger picture

Forget the ease of it; there are ways of doing business in India. We all know how. One way is get the Prime Minister involved. The other is prompt courts to half-do, or quarter-do, a thing. And then leave it to time, or to the ease of the vested interests, so that people forget the benefits promised. What else would explain the stunting and wasting of an otherwise impressive Chandigarh International Airport? 

Take a look: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 306-acre airport in September 2015. It was supposed to cater to 45 lakh passengers every year. This year, it reached a figure of 15 lakh passengers only. It doesn’t have Wi Fi, food and beverages outlets, ATMs and duty-free shops. It operates only two international flights (daily to Sharjah and Dubai) and 26 domestic flights. The authorities seem to have lost sight of the Punjabi diaspora spread over US, Canada and the UK. Thai Airways wants to operate two flights daily to Chandigarh, but the takeoff is caught in bureaucratic logjams in Delhi. Then, there is the Delhi lobby.

The Chandigarh International Airport Ltd (CIAL) was formed as a joint venture between the Airport Authority of India (AAI) with a share of 51% with Punjab and Haryana each sharing 24.5% stakes. The project cost is Rs 963 crore out of which Rs 460 crore went to acquire land.

The domestic share could have been only a dream had the Punjab and Haryana High Court not taken a stern view. Hearing petitions by local businessmen, the court asked the Centre last year to return the acquired land for the airport to the farmers if the flights were not started. After that, the airport became functional. The court proceedings reveal that a certain lobby of businessmen and other agencies, including some government officials in Delhi, could be blocking more flights to the airport. “More flights to Chandigarh mean loss of business to a private company managing the international airport in Delhi. Then, there is a hotel and transport lobby. The airport functioning is thanks to the court directives,” said a lawyer who is part of the ongoing case. The CIAL, the Government of India besides Punjab and Haryana are respondents in the case.

The Union Government has in an affidavit to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 1 said that 18 countries were interested in air connectivity with Chandigarh. Sandeep Saxena, under secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said the countries had an open right to choose Chandigarh as a direct air destination. He argued that there was no obstruction in the way. The court was, however, also told that the Centre has a policy for not granting direct flights to non-metro cities. 

The ‘Delhi lobby’ of businessmen is not letting the airport have more than two international flights without parking. As per rules, an international flight within 5,000-air-km is possible after the two countries reach a bilateral agreement. This includes a ‘point of call airport’ where the flight will land. For countries beyond the 5000 km, only a point of call agreement with airlines is required.

In a recent court hearing, an advocate representing the Union Government said: “It is quite evident…that the government has been more than willing to make the airport operational and functional. Perhaps, it is the unwillingness of the other staff members to not let it be fully operational because their actions have been lackluster (sic).”

The air gets clearer: The Chandigarh airport has and will take away the traffic from Delhi. One instance is passengers from Uttarakhand. They would prefer to board from Chandigarh rather than Delhi to avoid traffic, crowd, and longer journey. “The airport is not getting its due share. The traffic and revenue at Delhi is like a huge ocean. Chandigarh will take away only a minuscule of it. Still, it is not being allowed to spread its wings,” said a CIAL official.

On its part, the Centre makes it clear that it wants the airport to have its full share of business. Says assistant solicitor general of India Chetan Mittal: “The government is very keen on growth of the Chandigarh airport. None other than Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has written to the Punjab Chief Minister expressing himself in favour of development of the airport. The government is pushing for providing not just all facilities, but the highest standard of facilities at Chandigarh.”

The Defence Minister would know of the practical issues. The airport lies in Defence Enclave and is labeled as ‘high security sensitive.’ All operations, including Air Traffic Control, runway and flight timings are with the Indian Air Force. As per its security requirement, which cannot be ignored, the civil airport has less operation time and flights. The flight can operate between sunrise and 10 pm, but on week days, the closing time is 8 pm. On first and third Sunday, the closing time is 3 pm.

“This airport has made a minimal dent on passenger volume at the Amritsar airport. This airport is more convenient for people who earlier had to board flights from Delhi,” says Suneel Dutt, CEO Chandigarh International Airport Ltd.

Though both Punjab and Haryana claim the airport was their initiative, none of them has done much for its growth. Sources say the states didn’t give land free-of-cost and have not set up Tourism Purpose Vehicle -- a system of encouraging traffic by publicity and for easing investment and facilities.

Viswajeet Khanna, principal secretary Punjab and a member of the CIAL board, said it was the state government that pushed project. “International flights to Thailand will start from April. But for flights to other countries, especially the UK, US, Canada and Australia, the runway needs to be upgraded.”

The runaway length is 9,000 feet which can handle slimmer planes only. “More land is required for a parallel runway project for exclusively civilian use. Discussions are on,” said a CIAL source.