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Ashwini Phadnis

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, in its report on the functioning of private airports and related issues, has found certain areas that need immediate attention, including the fact that passengers at greenfield airports have to pay exorbitant prices for food items.

The implementation of the panel’s recommendations could make a visit to the new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore a lot more relaxing.

“The eateries are charging much more than the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), which is against the Supreme Court order.

Besides there is no canteen for the employees and staff working at these airports,” the Committee, which presented its report to Parliament two weeks ago, points out. The report adds that the drivers and others who are waiting outside the airport should also have affordable canteen facilities and basic amenities like toilets.

The Committee has called on the Government to ensure that the airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad provide basic facilities to the drivers and passengers and stop the eateries from charging exorbitant prices.

The Committee has not only mentioned that the parking charges for vehicles are heavy at these airports, but also expressed surprise at finding that, at Hyderabad, a vehicle entering the airport to drop or pick up a passenger has to pay Rs 35 per trip.

It has also called for strengthening the baggage handling process to reduce the baggage delivery time for passengers.

The new airport at Hyderabad, which started operations on March 23 this year, is being developed by a consortium led by the GMR Group, which includes Malaysia Airports Berhad, the Andhra Pradesh Government and Airports Authority of India.

Meanwhile, a consortium led by Siemens, Germany with Unique Zurich and Larsen & Toubro as the other partners started operations on May 24 this year in Bangalore.

Noting that the closure of HAL airport in Bangalore led to job losses because of reduction of flights and closure of airline operations, the Committee recommends that all those people who have been directly or indirectly affected by the closure of the HAL airport in Bangalore and the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad may be given “preference and suitably accommodated” at the new greenfield airports.

The Committee report states that thousands of direct and indirect workers at the two airports, including trolley retrievers, small-time vendors, taxi and auto drivers and loaders, lost their jobs.

The Committee is also of the “considered view” that the HAL and Begumpet airports be made operational for domestic civil aviation.

But it is not all criticism for the greenfield airports, which have also come in for praise from the Committee, which feels that the plan and design of greenfield airports are of international standards with certain useful facilities for the comfort and convenience of passengers.

These include adequate and efficient check-in counters, self check-in machines and quick immigration clearance.

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