PUNE: The city unit of the Congress party will hold
protests
if the
new terminal building
of the
Pune airport
is not inaugurated and becomes functional by January 1 next year.
Mohan Joshi, the general secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee on Wednesday said that despite the building being ready for three months, it was not being inaugurated only because the prime minister’s office was not confirming an
inauguration date
.
“Yesterday I travelled back to Pune from Hyderabad and it was a bad situation at the airport. Despite the aircraft reaching Pune, it kept on hovering for half an hour as there was no space to park once it landed. We have been talking to many flyers and they have been complaining about the mess in the airport due to crowding and rush. I also called up the airport director who said was in Delhi and couldn’t confirm any date pertaining to the new building’s opening,” Joshi told TOI.
Flyers presently have been complaining frequently about difficulties they have. Wen facing collecting luggage and then waiting at the AeroMall for long amidst heavy rush to get cabs. “Boarding a cab from Pune Airport to destination has really become painful. The narrow area on 2nd floor in Aeromall cannot handle such passenger traffic. It took me 55 minutes to board a cab recently. Besides internet connectivity is so poor in Aeromall making online booking cumbersome. I haven't come across any Airport in India where the taxi services are inside a building and one has to walk a long way,” Jaideep Malaviya, who travelled to Pune last week, told TOI.
Joshi said that the form in which the protest will happen was being decided. “We cannot protest at the airport as the area belongs to the defence. We will finalize a strategy soon. The new building cannot be kept in the waiting for an inauguration from the Prime Minister amidst so many issues flyers are facing each day,” he pointed out.
While Dhoke couldn’t be contacted despite calls made, sources in the airport said that a visit of civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was expected soon. “The building is ready and we are still awaiting updates from our headquarters, civil aviation ministry and the PMO. We have learnt that the civil aviation minister will visit the airport soon to have a final look at the building. Beyond this, we don’t have any more information,” the official said.
Earlier, airport officials had told TOI that post inauguration, it could take around 6 more weeks for all infrastructure to shift and flight operations to begin. “This period will be the final phase of testing of all infrastructure,” another official pointed out.
Yet another official said, “We have been told to mentally prepare ourselves to move out from here to the new building but no dates have been given.”
The new building has an annual passenger handling capacity of 12 million against 7.1 million in the existing terminal building. The nee building’s per hour passenger handling capacity is 1400 passengers against the existing 900. It also has five aerobridges and 5 baggage belts.
AeroMall officials said that crowding was happening in the late evening hours between 11:30pm to 1am mainly. “There are 13 arrivals during this time and all flights presently are coming in full. The situation becomes even more a crowded affair when flight delays happen . We are trying our best to control the situation and have deputed more men and night managers. All this doesn’t happen everyday however,” an official said.
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