Unlike what some informed people think, India has
strong regulatory bodies for many services ..... for
Telephone (including cellphone, broadband etc) there
is TRAI, for Insurance, there is IRDA and so on.
People who have dealt with these regulatory bodies
(uninformed and simple minded people :) ) know that
these are very effective. I have used TRAI to
resolve issues with Cell Phone and Banking Ombudsman
to resolve my issues with Credit Card billing and it
is smoother then dealing with Department of Insurance
in US.
Also, private ownership does NOT necessarily mean
monopoly or license to steal... good example is cell
phone providers or Air Lines
And where are the checks and balances when Walmart
forces closure of mon and pop shops
On a different note, the Mumbai Domestic airport
(Santacruz), after its recent renovation have been
excellent. This is being done as a private-public
joint venture.
The congested Sahar international still resembles
the old JFK though.
>
>It is time to turn to private sector for airport
management in
>India. I read an article about an airport in Kerala
that is being
>managed under private sector and how clean the
airport is.
>>**** MANAGEMENT or OWNERSHIP?
If it is management, how does the competitive forces
of the free
market system operate? If the managers fail to
deliver can it be
replaced ? Imagine IGI management handed over to Tata
Consultancy
overnight
or over a year and its woes disappear like a bad
dream!
Private sector management of airports MAY have merit.
But in the
absence of institutional checks and balances
maintained by the
PUBLIC, the government, it is merely a license to
steal from the many
toi enrich a few.
If it is OWNERSHIP, then why should a private profit
making entity
get the monopoly to run a public service like an
airport ( or a
sanitation system or water supply), without public
oversight?
And talking of effective PUBLIC oversight , if it
were available in
Indian governance, why would IGI or Mumbai Int'l
airports be in the
sorry states they have been?
*** Point therefore is that to avoid tackling India's
failed
governance with 'free-market' slogans is merely
another attempt at evading what informed Indians
ought to know they
are condemned with but are unable or unwilling or both
to determine
out why and doing something about it.
>
>How about assigning the airport management to Lalu
Yadav? Apparently
>he made a lot of improvements in the railways.
>Dilip
>=============================================================
>
>Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
> >Delhi's IGI Airport has become a nightmare ?
>
>Has???
>
>It has always been so. Just getting worse. I was
there a month ago.
>The parking lot is a nightmare. We could not push
our luggage
>loaded carts to the car in the parking lot, because
of the
>unbelievable pot-holes, all the way. Had to lift the
cart up, with
>the help of all the young men waiting around for the
opportunity to
>help out. Not that I grudge them. But IGI being the
front door to
>the capital of a super-power wanna-be, the state of
affairs IN and
>AROUND the airport and its amenities ( if one could
call it that)
>boggled the mind. Someone explained a new parking lot
is being
>built. I will believe it when I see it. All the
renovation work
>going on in the passenger areas tell a tale of
appalling
>infrastructure behind the ripped out finishes. No
wonder the
>ceilings keep falling.
>
>And that tunnel out of the international arrivals
area! It has no parallel.
>
>What seems to be India's problem anyway?
>
>But on a the brighter side, I was pleasantly
surprised by a CLEANER
>Delhi, at least at the upscale neighborhoods like
Defense Colony .
>The sidewalks were swept, no plastic bags and paper
on the plants
>flanking them. The plants looked maintained. The
taxi driver
>explained it is the upcoming Asian Games ( or is it
the Commonwealth
>Games). It was a different story however, on the way
to IIT Delhi.
>
>
>cm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Click!
>IGI official escapes roof collapse
>15 Nov 2007, 0508 hrs IST,TNN
> Print Save EMail Write to Editor
>NEW DELHI: Delhi's IGI Airport has become a nightmare
not only for
>passengers but also for those who are working there.
>
>On Wednesday morning, a lady officer had a miraculous
escape when
>the roof of her newly renovated room collapsed on
her. Aman Saini,
>assistant general manager of terminal-II, was working
on her
>computer about 10.30 am when the false ceiling came
crashing down,
>along with the airconditioning ducts. A senior
official of the
>airport had to pull her out from under the debris.
>
>Even as preparations are on to make travelling more
convenient
>during the foggy months, frequent complaints by
people on the
>degraded condition of the airport at present has
forced the ministry
>of civil aviation to sit up and take notice.
>
>Sources said that based on the complaints on
dysfunctional toilets
>and other issues sent to the ministry, it was
planning to conduct a
>surprise check at the airport in the near future.
>
>While Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL)
officials tried
>to downplay the incident and said that "only a single
panel had
>fallen and the official wasn't hurt", sources
revealed that
>officials were appalled at the condition of the
airport.
>
>"The airport manager's room is newly constructed and
if this is what
>happens to renovated rooms, one can imagine how it is
elsewhere,"
>said an official.
>
>"We are lucky that the Amin escaped with scratches
but to have the
>entire roof collapse on one's head can be a major
shock and could
>have turned very ugly," he added.
>
>The old airport manager's room was recently
demolished and the new
>one set up outside terminal-II. Strangely, with
renovation on, there
>is no access to the room from inside and can only be
reached from
>the city side.
>
>The room where the roof collapsed was a little way
behind the main
>structure which is not frequented by people often.
>
>According to sources, the condition of the airport,
specially during
>renovation, has made travelling a complete hassle.
Recently, a
>passenger at the international departure terminal had
a part of the
>false ceiling collapse on her head. She too, luckily
escaped with
>minor injuries. Cases of people tripping over loose
tiles and
>slippery floors is also becoming common.
>
>Sources also revealed that only one ladies' toilet
was functional at
>the international departure terminal, and that too on
the lower
>level.
>
>"The maintenance of toilets at the international
airport is with AAI
>and there are some issues between the GMR Group and
AAI employees
>that is aggravating the problem," said sources. News
on the airside
>is no better. Recently, civil aviation director
general Kanu Gohain
>took a tour of the operations area at the airport to
see the
>conditions after the recent spate of accidents. He is
learnt to have
>reprimanded eight drivers who were found to be
driving "worse than
>Blueline drivers".
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