At 7:48 AM -0800 11/19/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
It is time to turn to private sector for airport management in
India. I read an article about an airport in Kerala that is being
managed under private sector and how clean the airport is.
**** MANAGEMENT or OWNERSHIP?
If it is management, how does the competitive forces of the free
market system operate? If the managers fail to deliver can it be
replaced ? Imagine IGI management handed over to Tata Consultancy
overnight
or over a year and its woes disappear like a bad dream!
Private sector management of airports MAY have merit. But in the
absence of institutional checks and balances maintained by the
PUBLIC, the government, it is merely a license to steal from the many
toi enrich a few.
If it is OWNERSHIP, then why should a private profit making entity
get the monopoly to run a public service like an airport ( or a
sanitation system or water supply), without public oversight?
And talking of effective PUBLIC oversight , if it were available in
Indian governance, why would IGI or Mumbai Int'l airports be in the
sorry states they have been?
*** Point therefore is that to avoid tackling India's failed
governance with 'free-market' slogans is merely
another attempt at evading what informed Indians ought to know they
are condemned with but are unable or unwilling or both to determine
out why and doing something about it.
How about assigning the airport management to Lalu Yadav? Apparently
he made a lot of improvements in the railways.
Dilip
=============================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Delhi's IGI Airport has become a nightmare ?
Has???
It has always been so. Just getting worse. I was there a month ago.
The parking lot is a nightmare. We could not push our luggage
loaded carts to the car in the parking lot, because of the
unbelievable pot-holes, all the way. Had to lift the cart up, with
the help of all the young men waiting around for the opportunity to
help out. Not that I grudge them. But IGI being the front door to
the capital of a super-power wanna-be, the state of affairs IN and
AROUND the airport and its amenities ( if one could call it that)
boggled the mind. Someone explained a new parking lot is being
built. I will believe it when I see it. All the renovation work
going on in the passenger areas tell a tale of appalling
infrastructure behind the ripped out finishes. No wonder the
ceilings keep falling.
And that tunnel out of the international arrivals area! It has no parallel.
What seems to be India's problem anyway?
But on a the brighter side, I was pleasantly surprised by a CLEANER
Delhi, at least at the upscale neighborhoods like Defense Colony .
The sidewalks were swept, no plastic bags and paper on the plants
flanking them. The plants looked maintained. The taxi driver
explained it is the upcoming Asian Games ( or is it the Commonwealth
Games). It was a different story however, on the way to IIT Delhi.
cm
Click!
IGI official escapes roof collapse
15 Nov 2007, 0508 hrs IST,TNN
Print Save EMail Write to Editor
NEW DELHI: Delhi's IGI Airport has become a nightmare not only for
passengers but also for those who are working there.
On Wednesday morning, a lady officer had a miraculous escape when
the roof of her newly renovated room collapsed on her. Aman Saini,
assistant general manager of terminal-II, was working on her
computer about 10.30 am when the false ceiling came crashing down,
along with the airconditioning ducts. A senior official of the
airport had to pull her out from under the debris.
Even as preparations are on to make travelling more convenient
during the foggy months, frequent complaints by people on the
degraded condition of the airport at present has forced the ministry
of civil aviation to sit up and take notice.
Sources said that based on the complaints on dysfunctional toilets
and other issues sent to the ministry, it was planning to conduct a
surprise check at the airport in the near future.
While Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) officials tried
to downplay the incident and said that "only a single panel had
fallen and the official wasn't hurt", sources revealed that
officials were appalled at the condition of the airport.
"The airport manager's room is newly constructed and if this is what
happens to renovated rooms, one can imagine how it is elsewhere,"
said an official.
"We are lucky that the Amin escaped with scratches but to have the
entire roof collapse on one's head can be a major shock and could
have turned very ugly," he added.
The old airport manager's room was recently demolished and the new
one set up outside terminal-II. Strangely, with renovation on, there
is no access to the room from inside and can only be reached from
the city side.
The room where the roof collapsed was a little way behind the main
structure which is not frequented by people often.
According to sources, the condition of the airport, specially during
renovation, has made travelling a complete hassle. Recently, a
passenger at the international departure terminal had a part of the
false ceiling collapse on her head. She too, luckily escaped with
minor injuries. Cases of people tripping over loose tiles and
slippery floors is also becoming common.
Sources also revealed that only one ladies' toilet was functional at
the international departure terminal, and that too on the lower
level.
"The maintenance of toilets at the international airport is with AAI
and there are some issues between the GMR Group and AAI employees
that is aggravating the problem," said sources. News on the airside
is no better. Recently, civil aviation director general Kanu Gohain
took a tour of the operations area at the airport to see the
conditions after the recent spate of accidents. He is learnt to have
reprimanded eight drivers who were found to be driving "worse than
Blueline drivers".
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