What is wrong with the new, swanky international airports all over the country? None of them seems to satisfy anyone. In Delhi, heavy showers flood the T3 and in Kolkata the toilets are a mess and signage is a disaster.
But Mumbai's brand new terminal takes the cake. Mosquitoes are making life hell for passengers catching night flights at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport's T2, diluting their admiration for the state-of-the-art terminal built at a cost of over Rs5,500 crore.
Hetal Avlani, a passenger who recently travelled through the airport on early morning of Monday tweeted, "Dear CSIA, please do something about the mosquito problem. They are the only things that you have carried over from the old airport."
The airport administration on its part claims that the new terminal has most environment friendly and clean terminal buildings and operations which can be matched with the international standards.
"We are already working to mitigate the problem," said an airport official. However, a spokesperson for the airport said, "We have taken all the possible steps to keep the mosquito problems under check. Fumigation is regularly done and all the nullahs (drains) have been covered, among other things."
UK-based Raitess Rai, in her comment on well-known air travelling quality portal Skytrax, writes: "Very disappointed. Stunning building - experience completely ruined by mosquitoes and dreadful queue management." Manzar Sayed, an IT professional and a frequent flier to US and Europe agrees: "The mosquitoes are still a nuisance, though the swanky airport terminal building is a treat to the eyes and is comfortable."
Frequent travellers and airport staff say mosquitoes have been a problem at the airport for a long time. Tourism industry sources say that for international passengers, mosquitoes are the memory that they carry of Mumbai airport, and not the swanky building. The huge piles of garbage at slums surrounding the airport and debris due to construction work have been the source of mosquito breeding near CSIA.
Incredible India indeed!
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