DUBAI, 27 October 2007 — The UAE-based All India Airport Users’ Forum (AIAUF) is planning legal action against Indian airlines and airport authorities for frequent cancellation of flights from Calicut Airport at the last moment, which has become a regular feature.
K. M. Basheer, general secretary of AIAUF, said many people working in the Gulf suffer losses and face hardships due to this irresponsible act.
“The airport authorities have failed to understand the seriousness of the issue. Visa period of many passengers expired due to sudden cancellation of flights from the Calicut Airport.
“Many people have lost their jobs as they could not report for duty on time. During the past one year 55 flights were cancelled and many delayed by over 10 hours,” the AIAUF general secretary pointed out.
Basheer said AIAUF legal action was the last resort to get compensation for the passengers who have suffered losses.
“Kerala has three Cabinet ministers in the center and some of them often visit Gulf states with a lot of promises. The political leaders and ministers who visit Gulf countries indulge in rhetoric. All expatriate organizations in the Gulf should unite and fight this injustice through legal means,” Basheer suggested. Passengers to the Gulf, especially to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, face a multitude of problems. In addition, they are always ill-treated at Calicut Airport,” Basheer said.
“While many other airports are given permission to allow foreign airlines to operate, only Calicut is being ignored. It is suspected that some Kerala leaders are behind this bias,” he alleged.
Basheer said a meeting of expatriate organizations will be held at Indian Association Sharjah soon to discuss the course of legal action.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister of State for External Affairs and senior Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader E. Aahmed said that he had taken up the problems faced by the passengers at the Calicut Airport with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The IUML has called for a dawn-to-dusk strike in six districts in north Kerala (Malabar area) today to protest the attitude of the authorities toward the issues at Calicut Airport.
The strike will be observed in Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad districts. IUML will hold village-level ‘pada yatras’ exposing the failures of the LDF government from Jan. 1, 2008. This will be the beginning of the grass-roots level agitation against the CPM-led government.