Revamp HSIA

Sufferings of passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport [HSIA] are nothing new. From VIP-CIP to general passenger, if anyone comes from abroad or starts for foreign destination, often becomes victim of harassment at the airport.

Not only the local, the overseas visitors also complain that the HSIA is one of the dirtiest airports in the world where officials of relevant departments are mostly rude, immigration and check-in are quite unsatisfactory and its toilet facilities are frustrating.

But strangely, the government initiatives are very much poor to upgrade the ‘standard’ of the national airport. A dozen of development projects have so far been taken in the last few years to improve the service of HSIA, but most of them are not yet implemented.

Even, the construction of third terminal is now facing debacle due to bureaucratic tangle. If the third terminal is constructed, there will 24 boarding bridges and other facilities to tackle the increasing pressure of passengers. The work of third terminal may start next year under the auspices of Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA] and it will take three to four years to complete the project, officials said.

At present, the situation has gone worst at HSIA as most of the flights cannot land in the winter morning due to poor visibility resulting in from dense fog. To overcome the situation, the planes now started landing one after another after around 9:00am creating heavy pressure on the existing seven conveyor belts, out of eight.

At the same time, it has been creating additional pressure on the checking points of the departure and arrival lounges. So, the passengers’ sufferings become intolerable now.

In fact, the initial impression of a visitor to Dhaka is likely to be unfavourable too. While the aircraft taxies toward the boarding bridge, the adjacent grounds are seen indecent with deep ditches and messy surroundings. The entire airport terminal looks like a big cage where the entrance and exits are often remain shut.

It is not the end! Anyone comes out of the arrival area; the touts will pounce upon him with offers of cheap taxis, good exchange rates, hotels, etc. On the other side, if anyone goes inside the terminal, the brokers also swoop on him to arrange flexi load, getting internet connection, SIM, currency exchange and other services.

In each and every service their motto is nothing but to cheat the passengers. Especially, the condition of migrant workers, who use the airport to come home and go abroad, have to face an awkward situation almost often in the HSIA.

When contacted, Director of HSIA Group Captain Kazi Iqbal Karim told The New Nation on Tuesday: “I’ll not object about the complaints. There is a stink around the terminal, it’s sordid. But we’ve nothing to do, as the terminal building is getting old. It is very difficult to drive out the bad smell.”

Apart from bad smell and mosquito menace, the bathroom facilities in the terminal building are totally frustrating. The unclean bathroom along with stink is unbearable. Besides, there is lack of toilet paper and soap in the bathroom. Wastes are often seen piled in the corner.

On the other hand, with no one directing traffic, the immigration area is apparently a mess. The luggage handling is also primitive at the airport. Normally, it takes hardly fifteen to twenty minutes for a passenger on arrival to collect his baggage from the conveyor belt in neighbouring Netaji Subhash Chandra International Airport whereas in HSIA it takes ninety minutes on an average.

But the utmost sufferers are the visitors who come to the airport to welcome or bid farewell to their near and dear ones. Hundreds of them have to stay outside the terminal while there is no waiting room for them. Even, there is no toilet or washroom facility. Usually, they have to stay in front of the gates apparently to pass a very disgusting time.

About cleanness and bathroom service, the Director said: “Presently, we don’t handle this matter. Earlier, the employees of Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh [CAAB] were engaged in the cleaning service. But now, the matter has been given to outsource. We, however, are trying to get a good result from it. There is a combined complaint centre where the passengers can lodge complain, and we will address the issue.”

There is widespread allegation that the security and intelligence officials, particularly the Customs Intelligence, harass the migrant passengers those bring a little amount of gold for marriage ceremony of their daughters or sons. But the gold billions of taka worth allegedly goes untouched almost every day to make happy the smuggling syndicates.

Recently, a new style has been introduced to harass the passengers in the name of militancy. In that case, the officials concerned open the baggage and suitcase in a disorderly manner in the name of search.

“If the third terminal is built, the situation will be changed. The JICA will start the implementation work of third terminal from next year. It will be completed within next ¾ years. So, we’ve to stay satisfy with our limited resources at present,” the director said.