Press Trust of India Posted online: Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 1521 hours IST Updated: Monday, February 06, 2006 at 1031 hours IST
New Delhi, February 5: Passengers walked into clean lobbies towing their baggage trolleys as normalcy returned to major airports after workers withdrew their four-day old stir and resumed work with renewed zeal.
"Situation has returned to normal," said an airport manager here. Employees have reported to work as usual, was the common refrain of visibly happy airport officials, who had a harrowing time facing passenger ire over the last few days in view of ground services coming to a grinding halt due to the agitation.
Scores of employees at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai airports were busy cleaning, sweeping and putting the trolleys in order providing respite to the passengers.
Flight operations were not affected by the strike, called in protest against privatisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports, but passenger amenities inside and around the airports were severely hit.
"Everything is clean and smooth. Trolleys in place and toilets were clean," said Padmanabhan, a businessman who arrived from Mumbai said here.
Employees had resumed their work shortly after the strike was called off yesterday following an assurance from the government on job security.
In Mumbai, the night duty staff cleaned the entire airport in a five-hour marathon exercise.
"The floors are clean, the conveyer belts functioning and aerobridges are back in action", said Nitin Jadhav, Joint General Secretary of Airports Authority Employees' Union.
Normalcy has been restored in services in non-core areas such as housekeeping, fire fighting, maintenance, aerobridges and conveyer belts, he said.
Cargo operations, which were also badly hit, have resumed and employees are working round-the-clock to clear the backlog, airport sources said in Mumbai. In Chennai, a massive clean-up operation was launched to clear the garbage collected over three days with over 500 employees pressed into service for the cleaning operation, airport sources said.
All the staff members reported for duty and they were immediately despatched to several sections of the airport, an official said adding that stinking toilets were being given the first priority.
Efforts were on to speed up cargo delivery operations, which had been suspended during the strike. More cargo is likely to be delivered today, they said.
In Kolkata, passengers at the NSC Bose International airport spoke of hassel-free travel after the strike.
They no longer had to contend with stinking toilets, non-functioning aero-bridge and still conveyor belts as the airport complex returned to its spic and span look.
All staff, irrespective of their designations, pitched in to help in the cleaning up operations. Outside hands were also hired to assist in the job, Workers union sources said.
Passengers, who were severely hit by the lack of amenities, were happy with the situation now.
The four-day old stir by the airport employees was called off yesterday after a written assurance by the government that it would ensure job security and take the AAI into confidence over privatisation of other airports in the country.
New Delhi, February 5: Passengers walked into clean lobbies towing their baggage trolleys as normalcy returned to major airports after workers withdrew their four-day old stir and resumed work with renewed zeal.
