Immigration woes to hit airport hard

HYDERABAD: Apart from D-Day teething troubles for the international airport at Shamshabad on March 16, it���s not likely to be a smooth take-off for international travellers either: The airport doesn���t have enough staff to deal with immigration problems.
While officials were sent abroad - twice - to 'study' immigration procedures, there���s very little to show for it on Ground Zero at Shamshabad.The whole process is indicative of how the administration functions and the blame for the hiccups would squarely rest with the YSR government.
While 383 personnel have been sanctioned, the airport may have less than 100 to deal with 20,000 passengers every day. "And to recruit and train the rest will take at least a year," a source said.
Even to make up the 100 personnel, the 60 immigration personnel at Begumpet airport would be shifted to the international airport once operations begin there. Another 40 would be added immediately, but this clearly was not enough.
Though it was in 2007 that the DGP���s office sent a proposal for 43 immigration desks with 383 personnel, the red tape in the finance department ensured that a GO (MS No. 41) was issued only on Feb. 4, 2008, sanctioning 43 desks. And it was just two days ago that the finance department wrote to the chairman, State Police Recruitment Board, to recruit immigration personnel.
"The finance department mulled over the number of immigration desks for more than six months. It was not a major decision as the salaries (Rs 7.70 crore per annum) for the 383 personnel, including ministerial staff, will be borne by the Union home ministry," an official said.
The delay was caused because bureaucrats in the finance department objected to so many immigration personnel. They also queried the DGP���s office on whether any study had been done to arrive at the number.
After the chief secretary and the finance department questioned how authentic the estimate was, the DGP���s office suggested that Cyberabad police commissioner Prabhakar Reddy and Hyderabad joint police commissioner (Special Branch) Amit Garg visit international airports abroad to study how the immigration wings functioned there.
But it wasn���t the two officers who went abroad. Sources said that it was finance department special chief secretary P Ramakanth Reddy who went.
This didn���t go down well with the chief secretary and he had the home department send the two police officers again. The two officers visited Malaysia, Singapore and Germany late last year. It was only after they submitted their report that the finance department finally give the green signal for the 43 immigration desks.