Joint House Committee to submit Bengaluru International Airport report on February 16

The Indian Express is reporting

The Joint House Committee set up to probe into the alleged lapses in the establishment of Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will submit its final report on February 16.

The 20-member house committee headed by Chickpet MLA Hemachandra Sagar met the BIA officials on Monday.

Committee members said that the final report will be submitted to Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar on February 16. To lend credence to the report the members visited other airports in the country apart from inspecting facilities at BIA.

The Committee has examined if the airport’s promoters have been able to fully utilise the 4,000 acres of land allotted to it and reasons have been ascertained as to why the project’s cost shot up to Rs 2,700 crore from the initial estimate of Rs 1,350 crore.

The alleged violation of terms and conditions by BIAL during the construction was also under the Committee’s scanner. The Committee also looked at the facilities available at the airport, the absence of VIP lounge, outsourcing of the taxi services to private operators and permission for construction of second terminal at the airport.

It is expected to make recommendations on how to give a face-lift to the airport in line with other international airports.

This last paragraph is where I start shaking my head. I could be wrong, but I do not believe that any of these legislators have the required knowledge or experience, to offer the specialised recommendations needed for an airport.

There is a VIP terminal for legitimate VIPs as defined by Government of India. The cited lack of a VIP lounge is for the non-defined "self-appointed" VIPs who would like their entourage of flunkies to accompany them right till the aircraft. The legislators appear to be focussing on the mundane and utterly unneeded facilities, instead of the macro and long term needs.

The JHC should bring in professional assessors from the aviation world, airlines, industry, and passengers to sincerely address the aviation needs of Bangalore and its residents.

There are strong rumours that the investigation has been carried out at the behest of a particular community who have massive land holdings near the new airport, and there are fears that the "recommendations" will be aligned to the needs of this community.