Air Traffic

I have just come back from a trip to Hyderabad . The airports were literally stinking due to the strike by AAI employees. But I was happy that the air traffic was not affected that badly and it was almost normal due to staffs working in ATC (Air Traffic Control) and not participating in the strike. This is a good sign, and if you see , it didn't get the support of the general public nor the regular travellers and all of them were ready to bear the strains while trying to stretch themselves in locating a trolley or waiting for the check in baggage to come.

I am travelling after quite some time and I am surprised to see lot of private airlines counter inside the departure terminal . But I have some serious concerns on this growing airtraffic control in India.

I got myself an e-ticket booked and I was telling to myself , that at the counter they may be asking for my Identity card or my Passport or some thing to prove my identity . To my surprise , I was checked in with out any verification. I feel .this can lead to serious security lapse and impersonation is possible and in the event of a disaster it may lead to lot of confusions.

Second thing , I was asked to board the other airlines vehicle (though they are compettitors)to get dropped for boarding the aircraft.

Even during a recent interview in NDTV, Sreenivasan Jain asked Jet Airlines MD about the infrastructure availability for handling this tremendous growth in Aviation Sector , he replied that , Yes there are some concerns and the minsitry should look in to this.

In the recent past we have read in papers about near miss on couple of occassions and I am really not sure whether we have geared up for the growth and whether proper training is given to the staff concerned to handle such huge traffic .

Normally , we wake up only after a disaster strikes and we in India value human lives very low . Either it is a road accident or a train accident , the concerned officials or Ministers will say that it is a human error or sabotage and it will make a cover page in the News Papers for couple of days and after that we just forget.

Yes, we should forget the past and look forward to the future . But are we sharing the lessons learnt in the past for a prosperous future? Was there an action plan made and implemented and tracked?

Can the Government guarantee the safety of passengers travelling by Air?