Communication, Navigation and Surveillance personnel look after the sensitive radar, communication and other navigational systems of the Air Traffic Services.
Faced with acute shortage of Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) personnel, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is yet to fill half of the advertised posts so far, which is claimed to have affected day-to-day functioning.
"After two-years of starting the recruitment process for manager (electronics) in CNS, AAI shortlisted only 87 candidates on the basis of an open exam and interview against the total vacancies of 171," said S Kobiraj, general secretary CNS Officers Guild (CNSOG).
CNS personnel look after the sensitive radar, communication and other navigational systems of the Air Traffic Services.
"The state-of-affairs could be judged by the fact that an advertisement for recruitment of CNS executives, manager (electronics), was published in October 2007 and written test conducted after a year in November 2008," he said.
The results were declared in June 2009 and interviews held in August. The final result was declared last month but only 87 candidates were shortlisted against the 171 posts as advertised, Kobiraj said.
However, AAI sources said rest of the posts could not be filled up due to "lack of availability of right kind of people".
In a letter to AAI chairman, Kobiraj had charged that acute shortage of CNS manpower was adversely affecting day-to-day operations and maintenance of facilities.
"AAI management has failed to look into this serious issue." "We are the men behind the machine who sustain the ATC service infrastructure, which are the eyes, ears and brain of the air traffic service, but we are short-staffed by over 45% against the sanctioned strength," said CNSOG president Shamsher Singh.
At Hyderabad airport, there were 55 CNS people as against the sanctioned strength of 110, while at IGI airport, which is country's busiest airport, there were only 110 personnel as against the required 140. "We are stressed as the personnel have to work more than the stipulated hours," he said.
Since new facilities were being introduced, the AAI should increase the number of posts and fill up vacancies at the earliest, Singh said.
A similar situation faces Air Traffic Controllers also. The AAI had invited applications for 68 posts of Manager (ATC) in 2007, following which written tests were held in November 2008. The results of 68 successful candidates were declared in
December 2009 and displayed on the AAI website.
But surprisingly, the results of 33 candidates were withdrawn this February with the final list showing only 35 successful candidates. No reason was cited for this.
Following an RTI query, the AAI replied "the result for selection of manager (ATC) was withdrawn and issue of number of candidates to be offered appointments is still under consideration of the management."
The government recently informed Parliament that there were a total of 1630 ATC officers as against the sanctioned
strength of 2107.
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