Mangalore: Prabhakar Ambalathere, Chief Coordinator, Mangalore International Airport Users Forum, has said in a press release, that the forum plans to protest at Mangalore on the August 18.
The protest is to demand, among other things, Budget Airlines flights to Mangalore from G.C.C. countries, cancellation of Airport User’s fee in Mangalore, and a Memorial for the Bajpe Air Accident Victims along with the distribution of compensation to the immediate kin.
Increase in luggage limit and proper handling of luggage, cordial treatment from the air and ground staff of Air India Express, the reconstitution of the Non Resident Kanndiga welfare Authority for the benefit of Kannadiga’s and the improvement of the existing Mangalore Pass port Office to provide full fledged services are also on the agenda of the forum.
The Forum is made up of representatives of the various organizations’ of G.C.C. Countries who have come together under one banner and present a united front to press their demands.
The forum plans to sit on dharna on the 18th of August 2014 before the D.C. office in Mangalore and submit a memorandum with a charter of demands to the concerned departments through the DC, Airport Director, Customs Commissioner, the local Member of Parliament, and District in charge Minister.
The forum has been consistently taking up the cause of Mangaloreans in the gulf and had, after several years of follow up and agitation, met with success when the first Air India Express flight from the gulf landed at the Mangalore International Airport about 8 years back.
Certainly, the Air India Express flights have helped Mangaloreans save time and money on travel from and to the gulf. But in recent years, things have gone from bad to worse. Several issues remain unresolved to the detriment of Mangalorean passengers’ comfort.
Main Issues on hand:
1. Flight fares to Mangalore are very high: Flight rates to Calicut, Cochin and Trivandrum are very low (UAED 580) where as to Mangalore almost 4 times high at UAED 2000. Private budget Airlines operate flights to the above airports. However not a single private budget airline is allowed to fly to Mangalore.
2. Flight timings inconvenient for passengers: Excepting the day flights, the flights to Mangalore are operated at timings that suit the staff and not the passengers are made to face the hardships at both airports waiting for long hours and spending sleepless nights at the airport lounges.
3. Cancellation of levy of users fee at the MIA: A user fee was imposed on passengers flying out of the MIA to recover the construction cost of the International Airport at Mangalore. Even after several years of fee collection and recovering more than the cost, this practice has not been stopped and it is high time that this practice is stopped.
4. Construction of air disaster victims memorial and immediate distribution of compensation to the victims of the Bajpe air disaster.
Even after many years the compensation to the bereaved families has not been fully distributed. It is time that it is done to bring closure to the tragedy for those families whose kin perished / were injured in Mangalore’s worst air disaster.
5. Reconstitution of the NRI welfare forum for Kannadigas. Earlier there was an NRI welfare Forum which was constituted by the previous government in Karnataka. A reconstitution is now absolutely necessary and urgently to tackle various issues that have emerged
Vakvadi Praveen Kumar Shetty, Chairman, Fortune group of hotels, UAE, is expected to inaugurate the protests. M. R. Vasudeva, Chairman, Karnataka NRI forum, B. A. Mahmood, Chairman, KESEF, are the other eminent personalities and organization leaders, expected to lead the protest which will be coordinated by Venkatesh Bhat the local representative.
