The Hindu : Front Page : IAF men deployed as airport staff begin stir

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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IAF men deployed as airport staff begin stir

Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: Even as the Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) began its “non-cooperation movement” from Tuesday midnight following failure of talks with the Airports Authority of India management, the Delhi government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

To deal with any contingency, 479 Air Force personnel were on Tuesday positioned at 21 key civilian airports to handle essential services. The personnel have moved to the airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Though the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation said the management and the AAEU were in talks, till late in the evening no compromise could be arrived at.

The AAEU’s demand is that the Union government keep the existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports open even after the new greenfield airports become operational.

Addressing a press conference, joint secretary K.N. Srivastava said: “The Delhi Government has invoked ESMA at Delhi airport. We have written to the other State Governments also in this regard. We have to see if the non-cooperation movement is a strike in disguise. A notice has been served on AAEU by the legal counsel of the Airports Authority of India keeping in mind the High Court directives on ESMA.”

“We have our contingency plans ready. Even if they strike work, there will be smooth operations at the airport. We expect normal air traffic,” he said.

New airports will commence operations this month in both the metros and according to contractual obligations with the developers, the existing facilities have to be closed.

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