Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)
Mangaluru, Apr 1: In the wake of allegations of harassment at Mangalore International Airport in a section of the media, airport director J T Radhakrishna on Saturday April 1 said that no complaint of harassment had been received from any passenger, and asserted that the officials and personnel at the airport are passenger-friendly.
Dismissing the allegations, Radhakrishna said, "It has come to our notice that some baseless rumours are being spread about airport officials and staffs, alleging that they have been displaying harsh behaviour. No incident of ill-treatment of any passenger has happened in the airport. Our staff and officials always try to maintain passenger-friendly attitude. Majority of the passengers who travel through our airport are satisfied with our service.
"Only in some exceptional cases, due to security reasons, we ask passengers for clarification, and once they give satisfactory answers, we allow them to travel. In such situations too, we get open-minded response from passengers.
"We have not got any complaint from passengers regarding harassment or harsh behaviour. If one or two isolated cases have happened, it does not mean the entire system is at fault," Radhakrishna said.
"Daily, around 1,000 passengers depart from Mangaluru airport to Gulf countries, and a similar number of passengers arrive. We are handling around 3,000 domestic passengers. We rank 12th in India in terms of passenger traffic and we the 18th major airport in the country. Last year, around 7 lac passengers travelled through our airport to various destinations.
"Various development works like expansion of the parking lot are under progress. Rs 130 crore has been sanctioned for expansion of the terminal building," he added.
Announcing the new e-visa facility at the airport, he said, "Today (April 1), we are staring e-visa services. The electronic mode will provide visas to travellers within 48 hours. For e-visa users, we have set up separate counters inside the airport. Those holding e-business, e-medical and e-tourist visas can make use of this facility."
Answering a question on the upcoming Kannur international airport, he said, "Kannur airport is not a threat to our service. Passengers always prefer the nearest point to travel. Our passengers are from Mangaluru and some parts of Kasargod. So we will not lose our passengers."
He also informed that from May 1 of this year, Indigo airlines will start its domestic service from Mangluru airport. The company has planned three daily flights - two to Bengaluru and one to Mumbai, he said.