NEW DELHI: A Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture headed by YSR-Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy, on Thursday expressed extreme displeasure and unhappiness over the absence of CEO of Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL), Videsh Jaipuria, from the committee meeting despite being served summons to appear in connection with the heavy uncontrollable congestion at the IGI airport.
“The members of the parliamentary standing committee are extremely unhappy over the non-attendance of the CEO DIAL despite being issued summons,” said a member of the committee. The meeting was attended by the deputy MD Narayan Rao and other DIAL officials on behalf of the CEO.
Reddy, heading the Standing Committee had issued summons to Jaipuriar on Tuesday, taking cognisance of the ongoing rush and extremely high congestion at the Delhi IGI Airport and asked him to appear before the committee Thursday in the wake of passengers facing massive discomfort and anguish due to long queues at check-ins and security area while waiting to board their flights at the Delhi airport.
The rush and congestion continue unabated even despite the Ministry of Civil Aviation stepping in and directing Delhi Airport authorities and airlines to take measure to put things in order. In fact, on the same day when the committee headed by Reddy issued summons to DIAL CEO, he MoCA has pulled up the private airlines for leaving their counters at several airports unattended adding to the woes of the passengers and compounding the congestion chaos at Delhi and other airports across India. In a letter to the airlines, the MoCA said “It has come to the notice of the Ministry that the airlines check-in counters at certain airports are found unmanned or inadequately manned during early morning hours leading to congestion at the airports, thereby causing inconvenience to the passengers.”
The MoCA while asking airlines to take corrective measures had also asked the airlines to “place real-time-data on their social media feeds regarding waiting time at respective airports’ entry gate.” “It has also been observed that while certain airlines have been leaving their counters unattended at some airports, they have been issuing alerts to passengers through SMS and other messaging platforms to reach airport several hours in advance before departure” said a senior official in the ministry adding, “this mindless action of the airlines is adding to the congestion chaos.”