Emergency landing

The government's resolve to get tough with the agitating Air Traffic Controllers and invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act has co...

The government8217;s resolve to get tough with the agitating Air Traffic Controllers and invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act has come not a moment too soon. Indeed, one would be hard put to find a more detested acronym in the country today than ATC. Impervious to concerns about passenger safety and convenience as well as losses accruing to airliners, once again 8212; for the fourth time in two years 8212; they have struck out on the path of greed and narrow self-interest.

The fact that their pay packets have more than doubled in a mere couple of years has given the ATCs no solace 8212; dispirited resignation to their lot is an aspersion no one has dared cast on them 8212; and they seek nothing less than an additional Rs 43,000 per month besides a host of other sweeping allowances.

And in this singleminded pursuit of self-enrichment, the ATCs are game for any shenanigans 8212; whether it be refusal to work with radars that would greatly enhance air safety till their demands are met or making aircraft circle forhours before being cleared for landing with not a thought about depleted fuel tanks.

In fact, nothing could be more damning than a flight captain8217;s entreaty to the ATC tower at Delhi8217;s international airport after being delayed for more than five hours: 8220;I am not carrying dead bodies in my hold, but I will soon have dead bodies in my cabin if I am not cleared for take-off.8221; But then, forget about attempts to line their pockets, air safety as such does not seem to have been an abiding concern for the ATCs: last year they embarked on a protest against disciplinary action against a controller deemed responsible for a 8220;near-miss8221;. Therefore, it goes without saying that the ATCs are completely unfazed by the litany of woes inflicted on others.

On the passengers who have to endure topsy-turvy schedules and harrowing waits in airplanes and airports. On the airliners who are left with mounting losses and worst-case accident scenarios; the losses to the Indian aviation industry so far on account of theagitation have been pegged at Rs 50 crore, with the beleaguered Indian Airlines and Air India8217;s cost of operations going up by 30 per cent.

Now even as ESMA and a notification under the Civil Aviation Act are finally issued and the ATCs are faced with the prospect of arrests and prosecution, the Civil Aviation Ministry too must introspect on its failure to nip the agitation in the bud. There is no gainsaying that officialdom8217;s record in caving in to strikers secure in the notion of their indispensability and a perverse idea of pay parity has spawned numerous stunts.

Instead, the government must recall the then US President Ronald Reagan8217;s decision to sack over a thousand ATCs in the early 1980s when they tried to hold the country8217;s aviation establishment to ransom. So, while the deployment of Air Force traffic controllers at the international airports in Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta and Mumbai is very welcome and long overdue, it must be accompanied by a threat of summary dismissal 8212; an action that wouldsend a no-nonsense signal to other sectors harbouring hopes of cashing in on their supposed indispensability.