NEW DELHI, JAN 20: The functioning of five international airports, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram, is likely to be thrown out of gear with officers of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and International Airports Division threatening to launch a stir.The officers are demanding that the recommendations of the Jain committee report, set up to create parity between the International Airport Division and the National Airport Division (NAD) of the AAI, and a unified payscale for officers of the two divisions be implemented.They said that if their demands are not met by January 31, they would resort to a stir.``We have waited for long, but we'll be forced to launch a major agitation if our demands are not met,''said A C Gupta, Secretary of the Association.The officers described the root of the problem as the merger of both the divisions, following an act of parliament in 1995 which led to the birth of the Airports Authority of India.Despite the equivalence of functions, the officers of NAD were given higher payscales, so the government constituted the Justice J D Jain committee which submitted its report in February 1997. However, it was stalled owing to the pressure of the ATC guild, which threatened to go on strike.According to the officers, they met Ranjan Chaterjee, Chairman, AAI, and other board members to press for their demands in December but nothing came of the meeting.``We had deferred our plan for mass leave, keeping in mind the interest of the general public. The management had assured us that they would issue the order soon, but nothing has been done,'' added Gupta.Officers said a board meeting of AAI is scheduled for Wednesday, and the ball lies in their court, ``They should take steps to ensure that thousands of passengers are not inconvenienced,'' a spokesperson said.
