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Aviation ministry will take action against ATCs

The government says it will take disciplinary action against the agitating air traffic controllers and will enforce a fool-proof contingency plan, even as the ATCs insisted that domestic/international flight delays were not caused by them, but were the result of faulty planning by the Airports Authority of India.

The AAI warning to the ATCs followed complaints by airlines that the 'go-slow' by the traffic controllers since February 1 had caused huge financial damages to them besides passenger inconvenience.

The ATCs are demanding a higher remuneration. The AAI may sack some ATCs who have been deliberately holding back flights, not due to procedural necessities as claimed. It was found that a flight on which Aviation Secretary P V Jayakrishnan was on board was deliberately delayed.

The government is also planning to move court, claiming that the ATCs are not following the 1995 Delhi high court order which prevented agitations by air traffic controllers.

ATC Guild president Brijendra Shekher said the court had ordered that the ATCs should perform their duties as per the rules and these orders were being followed.

''All the delays being blamed on ATCs are not being caused by us. The AAI is presenting a wrong picture to the ministry and the people.'' He said the ATC stir was a 'non co-operation' agitation which meant that the traffic controllers would go strictly according to the book.

AAI sources said dismissing some ATCs is necessary to set the issue at rest. The airlines are losing revenue because of delayed take-offs and landings and increasing parking fees due to the stir.

But the ATC Guild president claims the delays are being caused by faulty systems. Shekher claimed there was no Instrument Landing System at Delhi airport because the Category II system has not been installed.

"They (the AAI) were in such a hurry to implement the aviation minister's orders that they did not bother to take heed of the Intgernational Air Transport Authority's recommendation that the new system should be put in place only after the weather improves. The new ILS is not in place and neither is the old one. When the weather is bad, planes have to use the secondary runway where occupancy time is higher,'' he said.

He said there were other problems with the new Raytheon system like flight details and plans dropping out or going out of the computer system. The ATC Guild had warned the AAI that this would happen, but their suggestions had not been considered, he claimed.

The Guild said after it had made a presentation to the AAI with regard to the remuneration issue there had been no further communication from the government. The ATCs, Shekher said, would continue with their 'non co-operation' stir.

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