Mumbai: Faced with a severe shortage of air traffic controllers, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has come out with a controversial solution that will end up reducing the number of days off they get in a month.
In an order last week, AAI increased the normal duty time of controllers by 12 hours a month — meaning two extra six-hour shifts that will lead to the loss of two off days. It will hit the Mumbai air traffic control the most, where overworked controllers each have been putting in an extra duty of 18 hours a month already.
The AAI order is based on the argument that the working hours of controllers in India are less than the world average. That has been contested by controllers. "All they need to do is check the duty rosters," said a controller, requesting anonymity. Controllers in airports like Delhi, Mumbai follow what's called a "5 shift roster" and their normal duty hours are set at 36 hours per week. "The world average too is 36 hours a week. But with this order, Mumbai controllers will end up doing 39 hours of duty a week. Then again, because of staff-shortage they have to do 18 hours of extra duty a month. All this would add up to 45 hours of duty a week, which would be an extremely unsafe practice," he added.
12/04/16 Manju V/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
In an order last week, AAI increased the normal duty time of controllers by 12 hours a month — meaning two extra six-hour shifts that will lead to the loss of two off days. It will hit the Mumbai air traffic control the most, where overworked controllers each have been putting in an extra duty of 18 hours a month already.
The AAI order is based on the argument that the working hours of controllers in India are less than the world average. That has been contested by controllers. "All they need to do is check the duty rosters," said a controller, requesting anonymity. Controllers in airports like Delhi, Mumbai follow what's called a "5 shift roster" and their normal duty hours are set at 36 hours per week. "The world average too is 36 hours a week. But with this order, Mumbai controllers will end up doing 39 hours of duty a week. Then again, because of staff-shortage they have to do 18 hours of extra duty a month. All this would add up to 45 hours of duty a week, which would be an extremely unsafe practice," he added.
12/04/16 Manju V/Times of India
