Tussle toll on trolleys, toilets

The trolleys are rusting
The roof is leaking
The toilets are stinking and the garbage bins overflowing

The turf war between Trinamul and Citu unions has resulted in a spate of gheraos and other forms of demonstrations at the airport, leaving the staff with little time to ensure passenger amenities.

The employees have gheraoed several officials over the past few days to press for demands such as withdrawal of show-cause notices, relaxing the “strenuous” work schedule and action against rivals. The show of strength also manifested in dharnas and rallies that disrupted work at the airport.

“The situation is spiralling out of control and we are scared to ask the employees to work. Even contractual workers are behaving arrogantly,” an airport official said.

“The members of the rival unions are either hurling abuses at one other, organising sit-ins or gheraoing officials. They don’t have time to work,” he pointed out.

Last Friday, the Trinamul-backed Airports Authority of India Staff Workers’ Union had gheraoed two officials for six hours. A week before, the Citu-backed Airports Authority of India Employees’ Union, the only recognised union at the airport, had gheraoed another for several hours.

The authorities on Saturday decided to act tough, with airport director B.P. Sharma meeting home secretary G.D. Gautama and briefing him about the situation.

Airport officials said lack of maintenance had triggered a shortage of trolleys. “Of the 1,500-odd trolleys, nearly half are broken. Among the rest, many are unusable as the contractual employees are not oiling them,” said an official.

The trolley retrievers, too, have been negligent in discharging their duty. “The trolleys are dumped in front of the check-in counters but there is no one to bring them back to the terminal door. This also has forced a shortage of trolleys,” the official explained.

The employees’ demonstrations have also hit the clean-up work inside the domestic and international terminals. “The toilets stink and the contents of the garbage bins spill over,” said surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay, a frequent flier.

Water leaked through the roof of the international terminal during last week’s 48-hour rainfall, flooding several parts of the premises.

“The authorities had placed buckets and flower tubs to store water in an attempt to prevent flooding. It’s unthinkable in any other airport in the country,” said Rajesh Gidwani, a city-based businessman who was returning from Bangkok.

Officials said repairs had started at the domestic terminal but not yet at the international one. One air-conditioning unit in the security hold of the international terminal had been out of order for a week before being restored.

“We are trying our best to provide amenities to the passengers,” said airport director Sharma.

Citu’s Dipankar Ghosh blamed Trinamul for the state of affairs. “Trinamul wants to push the airport towards privatisation by instigating the staff,” he said. Trinamul leaders, on the other hand, claimed their agitation was not affecting work at the airport.