Heat, filth mark third day of airport strike

    Mumbai: Kicking away discarded coffee cups and sweating heavily as air-conditioners packed up, thousands of air passengers in India on Friday braved filthy terminals and protests as a strike over feared job cuts hit hard. The nation's biggest airports -- in the country's financial hub Mumbai and capital New Delhi -- were the worst affected on the third day of a walk-out called by airport workers' unions opposed to government plans to privatise the two airports. However, airline officials claimed that all morning flights took off on schedule. The privatisation plans are also opposed by the Left parties, who provide crucial support to the Congress led UPA coalition government. The Left parties have staunchly backed the agitation, saying they are not against modernisation but want it to be carried out by the state.

    Air travellers have had to bear the brunt of strikers' agitation and anger. The terminal at Mumbai was strewn with empty plastic bottles, cups and paper, as maintenance staff formed a core of the protesters. Hundreds of workers -- shouting "Down with the government" and "Down with privatisation" -- protested in front of the airport, despite a court ruling that demonstrations should not affect the functioning of the hubs. Authorities deployed extra security personnel as passengers kicked away garbage as they rushed to catch flights. Milind Dhigesh, Central Executive of Airport Authority Employees Union, expressing satisfaction at the proposed talks said: "had the government come on the negotiation table earlier such a situation would have never arisen". "The Prime minister has called us for talks in the afternoon but had they heard our demands earlier, then such a situation would not have risen. We do not want to cause any inconvenience to the passengers, but then we are striking so we cannot do anything," he said amidst the protests.

     In Mumbai, the strike has cast its spell at the cargo movement, as the employees are doing no paperwork. An airport official said cargo operations at the domestic airport where 350 million metric tonnes of cargo including perishable goods is handled, came to a virtual standstill resulting in a loss of 4.5 million rupees. Atul Asrani, Executive member, Bombay Customs House Agents Association, said: "For the last three days the paper work has stopped, the Airport Authority people are not working, they are not moving any paper. Whatever we are moving is the one held at the desk and the damages are very high." "Clearance is coming though there is no delivery being done," said Sanjay Pawar, a clearance agent.

    The strike began on Wednesday after the Government awarded contracts to two private consortia involving overseas companies to modernise and manage the New Delhi and Mumbai airports. The bid to revamp the Delhi airport was awarded to a consortium led by India's GMR group and German airport operator Fraport on Tuesday. The Mumbai airport was awarded to a group led by India's GVK Industries Ltd. and the Airports Company of South Africa. On Friday a senior leader of the Airports Authority Employees Union, Jaipal Singh, said the union's core committee would meet and the protests would continue for the time being. The move to revamp the two shabby, run-down airports is seen as a sign of India's determination to boost infrastructure development to keep pace with one of the world's fastest-growing economies. The airports have congested waiting areas, a lack of comfortable seating, slow baggage handling and unreliable power supplies, all of which make travel a misery for India's fast-expanding middle classes who increasingly take to the air for long-distance journeys. The protests by nearly 23,000 members of the state-run Airports Authority of India were splashed on the front pages of most Indian newspapers.

PM invites striking airport employees for talks

     New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today invited leaders of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) Employees Association for talks, after disgruntled airport employees refused to end their protest against the Government decision to privatise the Delhi and Mumbai airports. The invitation from the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) came after the Left leaders met Dr. Singh and asked him to directly intervene in the issue by inviting the striking airport staffers for talks. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel who also attended the meeting briefed the participants about the modernisation issue, employees' job security, and ownership issues. Meanwhile, workers said they would consider Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appeal.

     CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters after the meeting that "the Prime Minister has noted our concerns and has given assurances to us that he will meet the striking employees soon." The Left is concerned with the fate of the striking employees after the Delhi High Court called the strike as illegal. They also seem to have accepted the fact that the Delhi, Mumbai airport modernisation plan cannot be reversed since the contract has already been awarded. So, they are now keen on to get a better deal for the employees. The Government presently has not yet invoked Essential Services maintenance Act (ESMA) to bring the striking employees to work but further escalation will see the Act coming to force. The strike today entered its third day. The public conveniences at the airport were in a poor state but flights maintained their arrival and departure schedules. Today's decision come in midst of a reported weakening of the strike and the Prime Ministers direct intervention is expected to bring about an early resolution to the stand-off.

Praful Patel says no reversing of airport privatisation

     New Delhi/Mumbai/Chennai: India will not reverse its decision to award contracts for the privatisation of airports in New Delhi and Mumbai, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Friday. "The Prime minister asked the airport authority employees to withdraw their strike. Though he said that the decision of privatising the Delhi and Mumbai airports would continue, he assured the airport employees that they would not lose out on the jobs. The privatisation does not mean it is privatisation of the AAI (Airport Authority of India) and there will be no job cuts. The AAI employees will have to operate and modernise other airports," said Patel to reporters.

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