BENGALURU: An eight-second video released on social media on Sunday, by two-time Grammy winner Ricky Kej, depicting the massive crowd outside the immigration counter at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), drew sharp reactions from Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and other twitterati.
The video shows a jampacked immigration counter. “Pathetic state of immigation at the Bengaluru International Airport. Been in line for over an hour now. Currently well over 1000 people waiting, not all counters working, staff is useless, inefficient. @BLR airport why have so many flights when there is no capacity?” Kej tweeted, tagging Mazumdar-Shaw.
Kej goes on to add that this would impact the kind of first impression of India for foreign travellers, “How are we expected to build #BrandIndia if this is the welcome that everyone gets by the airports.?”
When Venky, who describes himself on his twitter profile as a writer, attempted to defend the situation at Bengaluru by pointing out that JFK Airport in New York was worse, and that the rush at KIA was temporary as Terminal 2 was getting built, Mazumdar-Shaw queried, “Why should we compare and take solace from worst airports? We should compare ourselves to the best.”
Joining the conversation, entrepreneur Alkesh Agarwal tweeted, “Painful and irritating it is after a long flight. Disturbing that infra for a global city like Bengaluru is severely broken -- airports or roads.” To this, Mazumdar-Shaw said, “Yes. Govt must act fast. KIAL Term 2 with large capacity in advanced features being opened at the end of the year. But roads are in dire need of upgrading @CMofKarnataka. “The video garnered more than 33,000 views by 8pm, and generated many responses from twitter users.