They include employees from the fire, civil and electrical departments, house keeping, motor drivers and even Airport Authority of India (AAI) security employees.

The strike is to protest AAI’s decision to close down Hyderabad and Bangalore airports to make way for private greenfield projects.

The airlines’ offices at the airport claimed that there will be no disruption in flight schedules.

But they could not rule out the possibility of ground services at the airport being hit due to strike.

Moreover, passengers will now have to cope with dirty terminals, unclean toilets, lack of air conditioning, inoperative conveyor belts and aerobridges.

Though air traffic controller officials are outside the purview of the strike, there could be hurdles in flight take-offs and landing as both fire service staff and airfield safety officials (or inspection crews) are joining the strike, said sources.

The AAI has approached the state government for help, confirmed Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb.

“We have assured AAI that we will see to it that any official willing to work will not be held back,” he said.

AAI has also requested the Indian Air Force (IAF) for help during the crisis period.

Accordingly, IAF personnel from the Kalaikunda, Panagarh and Barrackpore air bases have been stationed at Barrackpore.

“Today afternoon, AAI has asked for our help. We have already sent 30 personnel to the airport to help with services in the fire department, as special vehicle operators and airfield safety officials. We might augment the deployment depending on the situation,” said Group Captain R K Das, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in Kolkata.

CPM-backed Airport Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU) at the airport is determined to paralyse services even though the state government has given in to their demand that modernisation of NSCBI Airport will be undertaken by the AAI.