Three staffers have been transferred for a few weeks now and no replacement has come in yet
Authorities at India's oldest civil aviation airport in Juhu are a worried lot. Reason? Even a small malfunctioning in air navigation equipment installed at the airport may bring the entire operation to a standstill as three CNS (Communication, Navigation and Surveillance) staffers mandated with development and repair of those equipment have been transferred without any replacement so far. The three staffers used to do the work of seven, which is the sanctioned strength of the CNS wing of the airport.
According to aviation experts, the business of Centre-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) might be affected by this move as ONGC uses Juhu airport for its helicopter operations meant for ferrying staffers and others to its oil exploration activities in Bombay High fields in the Arabian Sea. The Bombay High basin is ONGC's flagship oil producing asset. According to industry estimate, ONGC's assets in the region currently produce 16 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of crude oil, which is nearly 40% of India's total crude oil production. ONGC officials could not be immediately contacted for comments.
However, senior officials at the Airport Authority of India (AAI) are of the view that CNS staffers from nearby Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) can be summoned to Juhu airport in case of any malfunctioning. CSIA and Juhu airport are situated at a distance of about 3km from each other by road. Juhu airport handled around 100 aircraft movement on average in a single day. "It can be managed by the existing staff at CSIA," said a senior AAI official.
The logic given by the management has apparently not gone down well with the CNS staffers at CSIA. "We are already short-staffed by about 40% and each of us have to stretch ourselves to complete the task at hand, leave alone the additional responsibilities of the Juhu airport," said a senior CNS official.
What if by sheer coincidence malfunctioning took place at both CSIA and Juhu airport at the same time, asked another CNS officials. "Obviously, our priority would be CSIA for obvious reasons. In such a case, operations at Juhu airport will come to a standstill," he added.
At present, the sanctioned strength CSIA's CNS unit is about 275 staffers. However, the airport has been functioning with a skeletal CNS staff of about 140. The situation turned worse between the end of May and June, when about 45 senior staffers were transferred and only around 15 came in as their replacement. Though another 25 new recruits have joined, they will need at least six months to get used to their work and become seasoned hands.
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