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Bangalore, May 23: When one drives down the central access road to the terminal building of the new airport, a green board indicates that there is a Cargo Village to the left. But the Cargo Village is expected to be ready only in the second half of July.
The Bengaluru International Airport, due to open soon, does not have proper facilities to handle cargo. It seems that the Rs 50,000 crore cargo business has not been given its due importance in BIAL's plan.
The Air India-SATS cargo terminal is not ready. The cargo warehouse has an open space between the roof and the walls, which cannot be used now due to the frequent rains.However, the Menzies-Bobba cargo terminal is almost ready.
The associations involved in the huge and vital cargo business held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, to plan the operations, with no facilities at the new airport and the cargo already flowing in.''We do not have a place to work.We do not have a shelter. Commercial operations in the city will come to a standstill if cargo handling is hampered. But we cannot do anything about it,'' said a cargo agent. ''Moreover, the sudden delay in the opening of the airport has left cargo agents in big trouble. If it is delayed again, it will mean added trouble,'' he added.