The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Airport employees close ranks

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Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Airport employees close ranks

S. Sandeep Kumar

Urge Government to continue operations at Begumpet airport

HYDERABAD: Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) on Tuesday made a strong appeal to the Government of India to continue operations at Begumpet airport even after Shamshabad airport became operational.

Members of AAEU across the country gathered on Hyderabad airport premises to conduct a mega public convention against the proposal of closing down Begumpet airport, the sixth largest airport in India, in the wake of commissioning Shamshabad airport.

They said the move to close down Begumpet airport would not only affect the livelihood of airport employees but would also result in causing great inconvenience to passengers, as Shamshabad airport was nearly 30 kilometres away from the city.

Moreover, heavy user charges will be collected from passengers at Shamshabad airport which would be an additional burden on them. Employees were not against opening of new airports but they should be made to establish on their own without closing the existing airports, said CITU National Secretary and former Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Civil Aviation, Dipanker Mukherjee, while speaking on the occasion.

“The government under the Common Minimum Programme stated that no profit making public sector units shall be privatised but by proposing to close down profit making Begumpet airport it was promoting privatisation,” he charged.

AAEU president S.R. Santhanam informed that the study committee appointed by the Government in 2002 recommended to Airports Authority of India that Begumpet airport had sufficient infrastructure to handle air traffic for next 15 years. With a workforce of over 500 regular and 5,000 contract employees, Begumpet airport operates over 250 scheduled flights per day of 10 domestic and 13 international operators.

The airport showed a growth of 39.25 per cent in traffic revenue collection in the first eight months of this financial year. The collections grossed at Rs. 99.86 crore as against Rs 71.71 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Similarly, the non-traffic revenue increased by 49.85 per cent at Rs. 28 crore as compared to Rs. 18 crore in the same period, he informed.

Mr. Santhanam said in the last couple of years over Rs. 350 crore were spent on Begumpet airport for developing infrastructure, including expansion of runway, construction of night parking bays, new aerobridge, procurement of navigational equipments etc. CPI MP Syed Azeez Pasha said the opinions collected from public during this convention would be presented to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Civil Aviation Ministry and would be discussed in the forthcoming budget session.

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