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Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) state president Shyamal Chakraborty told The Indian Express that the decision was taken following a meeting in New Delhi between AAEU representatives and the Centre, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and other senior ministers on Thursday afternoon.
Chakraborty, whose union is backing the AAEU in Bengal, said the preconditions for calling the strike off are still unknown. "As per the agreement, employees taking part in the strike will resume work from 12.00 am on Friday," he added.
The two-day strike reduced the airport premises into a garbage dump. The airport officials were able to keep the flights on schedule but the same cannot be said about the housekeeping part as conditions of the toilets for the passengers worsened. These jobs were not outsourced to private operators as the officials felt the union might revolt to this violently.
"You can understand the situation. There is no support staff, only 100-plus officers trying to keep the flights on schedule. However, the water supply has been restored and Wednesday evening's power outage has been rectified. The flight information display boards are still not functioning," said an official.
Before entering the meeting with the AAEU, Patel told media in New Delhi that "no immediate solution was possible", but appealed to the striking employees to withdraw their agitation in the interest of the public. The aviation minister also clarified that the existing airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad would not be closed down, but used for general aviation (non-scheduled operations by private aircraft using small planes) apart from defence purposes and national emergencies.
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