Airport stir off; dispute remains

New Delhi: While the two-day strike of the Airport Authority Employees came to an end, the controversy over closure of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports remained unresolved. The civil aviation minister declined to commit anything while agreeing to consider the demands of the striking employees.
Withdrawal of the strike comes just a day ahead of inauguration of the new international airport at Hyderabad by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Rajshekhar Reddy and Mr Patel are also scheduled to attend the inauguration.
The new international airport at Bangalore, on the other hand, is scheduled to open in May. The central government has agreed to launch of this facility after taking into consideration availability of services like ATC. The builders of the airport planned to launch it at the end of this month, but the proposal was rejected by the civil aviation ministry. Apart from minor delays and littering at some airports, operations remained unaffected. Complete normalcy is expected to be restored from Friday.
Left parties made fresh attempts to support AAI employees, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan sources said. At the same time the private parties which have built new international airports at the two cities have stepped up lobbying to press for closure of the old airports.
14/03/08 Economic Times

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Categories: AAI Strike 08, Airports Mar 2008, New Mar 2008