CHENNAI: It was constituted in 2008, but the Airport Advisory Committee for Chennai has not met even once till date.Pointing at the chaos the Chennai Airport sees everyday, Sudhakar Reddy, president of the Air Passengers’ Association of India, said the committee, which received representations from various parties concerned like travel agents, airline operators, passengers’ associations and industrialists, has been dormant ever since its formation.He said there was none to hear the numerous complaints arising out of the alleged mismanagement at the airport, let alone solving them. “Over 40 complaints have been received by the association in the last two months. These complaints are mostly on the difficulty in accessing the Chennai airport and the chaos that prevails inside the terminals. My repeated attempts to talk to the airport officials have been unsuccessful so far. The advisory committee, which could have taken up these issues that came up during the process of airport modernisation, has been sleeping, leaving us helpless,” Reddy said.In response to a letter that Reddy had written to the airport officials in March asking for a meeting of the advisory committee, he was told that the chairman was not available to conduct the meeting.“Ever since the committee was formed, no meeting has taken place. These is a forum through which discussions on passenger inconvenience and other issues involving modernisation that the public and various airport users are facing can be highlighted. But here, it is non-existent,” he said.The association president also raised concern over the development fee that the airport is expected to charge soon owing to the delay in the construction of the new terminals. “Material costs are increasing by 300 per cent and the overall budgeted cost of the expansion will increase, which the Airports Authority of India will make good by charging an unfair development fee on the traveller. But the passenger will still suffer, as he will have to walk down from the road to the terminal, wait in queues at security check and finally miss the flight,” he said. Reddy hopes to request the new government to spare about 1,200 acres of land to facilitate a new terminal and to construct a parallel runway at the existing airport. “The airport at Sriperumbudur is out of question for the next 15 years. Between 2001 and 2006, our present Chief Minister had said she would be able to spare 1,200 acres of land for airport expansion. This should be done now to improve the Chennai airport and bring it on a par with those in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad,” he said.
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