Airport authorities slammed for not providing facilities for cargo handlers
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) came in for sharp criticism by all stakeholders in overseas cargo handling business at a meeting here on Wednesday. Trade representatives from Trichy region complained that the authorities, instead of improving the infrastructure facilities at the airport here, were only paying lip service to the cause.
B K Mehrotra, AAI general manager (cargo), who attended the bimonthly meeting for the first time, was the target of cargo handlers' ire over inadequate facilities. S A Seyyed, the managing director of ABS Xpress, blamed the AAI for not delivering on promised facilities, though 12 bimonthly meetings were held with trade representatives.
What infuriated the customs house agents (CHAs) most was the fact that the even cargo trolleys were in bad condition. Most of them would not move literally. Besides, the promised canopy to provide some relief to the exporters was also not set up. After the closed-door meeting assistant manager (cargo) Subramanian apologised for the shortcomings. "I sincerely apologized for the delay in providing trolleys to the exporters," he told TOI, though he refused to take blame. The AAI got poor response to online tenders for supply of trolleys to the Trichy international airport. Out of the 20 trolleys available now, only three are not in use. The AAI has floated tenders for 16 new trolleys, Subramanian said.
The CHAs assembled at the meet said promised basic facilities such as photocopiers, standby xray machines, workable trolleys etc are still unavailable even though the exports from the airport reached 300 tonnes a month. "Now that we are exporting close to 500 tonnes a month, the promise is yet to be fulfilled," said R Muralidharan, a managing director of a cargo company.
Mehrotra said efforts are on to provide the required facilities. "Some Trichy exporters are complaining to Prime Minister's Office every now and then without understanding all the aspects involved. Everything is going to be a coordinated effort. It is a long process. We cannot construct a house in a single day," Mehrotra said, while adding that the first priority was getting a building to house infrastructure such as scanners and x-ray machines. "We are already on the job," he said.
Though the Union ministry of finance notified the Trichy airport as an international courier cargo hub in July last year, the Customs has not yet accorded the custodianship to the AAI to run cargo operations. The airport authorities offered only a 140-sq meter area for courier cargo that was considered inadequate. Besides, the absence of electronic data interchange facility has also put the exporters into lot of hardship
B K Mehrotra, AAI general manager (cargo), who attended the bimonthly meeting for the first time, was the target of cargo handlers' ire over inadequate facilities. S A Seyyed, the managing director of ABS Xpress, blamed the AAI for not delivering on promised facilities, though 12 bimonthly meetings were held with trade representatives.
What infuriated the customs house agents (CHAs) most was the fact that the even cargo trolleys were in bad condition. Most of them would not move literally. Besides, the promised canopy to provide some relief to the exporters was also not set up. After the closed-door meeting assistant manager (cargo) Subramanian apologised for the shortcomings. "I sincerely apologized for the delay in providing trolleys to the exporters," he told TOI, though he refused to take blame. The AAI got poor response to online tenders for supply of trolleys to the Trichy international airport. Out of the 20 trolleys available now, only three are not in use. The AAI has floated tenders for 16 new trolleys, Subramanian said.The CHAs assembled at the meet said promised basic facilities such as photocopiers, standby xray machines, workable trolleys etc are still unavailable even though the exports from the airport reached 300 tonnes a month. "Now that we are exporting close to 500 tonnes a month, the promise is yet to be fulfilled," said R Muralidharan, a managing director of a cargo company.
Mehrotra said efforts are on to provide the required facilities. "Some Trichy exporters are complaining to Prime Minister's Office every now and then without understanding all the aspects involved. Everything is going to be a coordinated effort. It is a long process. We cannot construct a house in a single day," Mehrotra said, while adding that the first priority was getting a building to house infrastructure such as scanners and x-ray machines. "We are already on the job," he said.
Though the Union ministry of finance notified the Trichy airport as an international courier cargo hub in July last year, the Customs has not yet accorded the custodianship to the AAI to run cargo operations. The airport authorities offered only a 140-sq meter area for courier cargo that was considered inadequate. Besides, the absence of electronic data interchange facility has also put the exporters into lot of hardship
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