ATC officials at Kolkata refuse extra work
25 Jun 2008
Kolkata: Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials at the NSC Bose Airport at Kolkata have said no to taking on ''extra work''.
According to the eastern region's ATC Officers Guild, the guild has urged authorities time and again to replenish the number of ''rated'' or experienced ATC officials. However, the number of officials transferred out from Kolkata continues to exceed the number of officials transferred in. Consequently, ATC officials have been putting in extra hours on account of the staff shortage.
The refusal to take on extra work comes at a time when transfer orders for another eight rated officials has already been served. That prompted the ATC Officers Guild to stop extra work from 16 June, but the decision was deferred after talks with the authorities.
Sources say that 32 rated ATC officials each are needed for area control and radar control. Presently, only 25 are available for either function, resulting in a shortage of seven. This puts considerable additional load on the rated officials, with each having to undertake extra work in addition to their regular workloads.
The problem is further aggravated as five of the rated ATC officials have to work a full shift each night, that too after putting in their regular day duty. Moreover, they then have to impart training to non-rated officials.
Sources say the problem is so chronic that it has started telling upon the health of ATC officials, and could impact the safe monitoring of flights. On the other hand, stoppage of extra work would impact training schedules that transform non-rated officials into rated officials, becoming a catch-22 situation.
