The Hindu : New Delhi News : Loaders resort to pressure tactics, get erring colleagues freed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Loaders resort to pressure tactics, get erring colleagues freed

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, OCT. 12. Presenting the ugly face of airport operations, nearly 30 loaders of various airlines surrounded the office of the Crime and Intelligence Wing of the Central Industrial Security Force last night to protest against the arrest of three of their colleagues who had been nabbed by the security agency for allegedly fleecing passengers.

Since the entire episode unfolded before the eyes of hundreds of passengers and the process of facilitation of passengers by the loader staff was interrupted, the CISF buckled under pressure and released the three accused loaders.

However, the agency has lodged a complaint at the highest level against the conduct of the loaders and the airport authorities which acted as silent spectators to an incident that should not have occurred in the first place.

It was around 11 p.m. that the three loaders -- Azad Singh and Shiv Prasad of Air-India, and Ram Chander Singh of Aeroswit Airlines -- were apprehended by two constables of the security agency after a sub-inspector manning the closed circuit television surveillance informed them that the accused were extracting money from passengers at the Arrival level of the International Terminal for rendering their service.

The three accused were subsequently nabbed and their personal identity cards were confiscated by the security agency which has been carrying out a drive against all forms of touting and extortion at the airport.

But the matter did not end there. On hearing the news of the arrest of three of their associates, a large number of loaders gathered outside the office of the CIW of CISF and began shouting slogans. Fearing that the situation may turn ugly, the CISF quickly relented to their demand that the three accused persons be released immediately.

While the step was taken to normalise the situation and to prevent any hindrance in the smooth functioning of operations at the airport, the CISF did lodge a complaint with the Airport Manager. Also, the airport staff of CISF has reported to its seniors about the incident stating that the past experience has shown that whenever the loaders are caught in the wrong, they resort to pressure tactics.

Noting that these pressure tactics have been hampering the anti-touting drive at the airport, the CISF has stated that in the past the loaders have been caught while acting as touts, and for harassing and causing inconvenience to the passengers.

A senior official said these loaders target foreign incoming passengers in particular and charge up to Rs 2,000 for their service. Very often they also demand that their target passengers pay them in foreign currency. Since the loaders wield enormous clout and have sympathisers in various departments for obvious reasons, they almost always get away lightly either by browbeating the security agencies or by simply paying their way through.

What also goes in their favour is the fact that most of the other agencies deployed at the airport find these anti-touting and cleansing drives of the CISF quite intrusive as they feel that the security agency -- unlike its predecessor, Delhi police -- is taking matters too seriously for their comfort. And having been removed from the job of securing the airport, the Delhi police have also not been acting strongly on the complaints being forwarded to it.

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