With the Airport Authority Employees Union deciding to put off their countrywide agitation from today, Sitaram Yechury - Chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture – has urged the government to take immediate steps to solve the grievances of the airport employees.

Talking to PTI, Yechury said: “Government must immediately sit down with the employees' organizations and resolve the issues; otherwise it will be squarely responsible for inconveniencing the traveling public.”

The employees’ agitation was called off after the Delhi High Court’s Thursday ruling said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Ltd should give its employees till July 31 to think about VRS - Voluntary Retirement Scheme. Justice S Ravindra Bhatt said: “The Airports Authority should extend the time available to enable its employees to make a reasonable choice as far as VRS is concerned.”  

The court order brought the much-needed relief for the employees, giving them a three-month period to consider VRS. They had filed a writ petition, opposing the execution of the Operation Management and Development Agreement, which had been entered into with Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL).

The employees’ counsels termed the agreement as “disguised retrenchment,” as it implied the gradual transfer of nearly 3,500 AAI employees from Mumbai and Delhi airports to other places, after the private association’s 2006-established control over the operations and management.