BIA faulty?

BIA faulty?


Express News ServiceFirst Published : 11 May 2009 05:06:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 11 May 2009 09:30:19 AM IST
BANGALORE: The Joint House Committee set up to probe into the alleged lapses in the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), will submit its final report after the poll results are announced.
The 20-member committee headed by Chikpet MLA Hemachandra Sagar will convene a meeting before submitting a final report to Speaker Jagadish Shettar.
A committee member told The New Indian Express that an interim report had already been submitted which apart from highlighting the capacity constraints has also focused on the shortfalls in the facilities at the airport.
Mahalakshmi Layout MLA and committee member N L Narendra Babu said Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has failed to fulfil the requirements of an international airport.
“Be it the expansion works of the runway, aerobridges or services utilities, BIAL has failed. The services offered are not of international standards and the airport looks more like a local airport,” he said.
Delay due to polls He said that there was delay in submitting the final report due to the general elections.
“As most of us were campaigning it was difficult to devote time and no committee meetings were held for the past couple of months,” he said.
The panel, besides inspecting facilities at BIA, also visited the Hyderabad International Airport, apart from taking the opinion of the people in a public forum.
The committee, comprising legislators from all political parties, has been constituted to probe if BIAL has fully utilised the 4,000 acres of land allotted to it, why the airport project cost shot up from Rs 1,350 crore to Rs 2,700 crore, apart from probing into the alleged violation of terms and conditions by BIAL during the airport’s construction.
The committee during its inspection at the airport also looked at the facilities and sought to know why the taxi services were outsourced to private operators.
It is expected to make recommendations on how to give a facelift to the airport in line with other international airports.