ATC officials refuse to do extra work

Kolkata: Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials at NSC Bose Airport have decided not to undertake any “extra work” from today.
The ATC officials have been putting in extra hours of work in addition to their regular working hours due to a shortage of staff. A spokesperson for the ATC Officers Guild (eastern region) said the guild had been urging the authorities to replenish the number of “rated” (or experienced) officials for a while but the number of officials transferred from Kolkata were more than the number of officials brought here. According to a spokesman, 32 “rated” ATC officials were needed each for area control and radar control. But only 25 are available at present for either functions. As a result the “rated” officials had to undertake extra work in addition to their regular work. Five of the “rated” ATC officials had to work a full shift every night after doing their regular duty in the morning. These officials also had to impart training to “non-rated” officials. This was telling upon their health and could create problems in safe monitoring of flights. Stoppage of extra work would affect the process of training and delay the transformation of “non-rated” officials to “rated” officials. Moreover transfer orders for eight more “rated” officials has already been served. The ATC Officers Guild (eastern region) also had earlier decided to stop extra work from 16 June. Following talks with the authority they deferred their decision till today.
23/06/08 The Statesman

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Categories: Airports Jun 2008