Our "international" airport
Photo: STAR
This is in reference to a letter titled "ZIA..." published on August 8, 2008 in your daily. I could not agree more with the writer in his observations regarding the poor standard of ZIA when compared to other international airports. However, given the fact that Bangladesh is a third world nation, one does not expect ZIA to be in league with those of Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore or any other airport in North America or Europe. Nevertheless, one would expect it to have a basic minimum standard since it so proudly incorporates the word "international" in its name. Though I am not an expert in such matters, I realize from a layman's point of view that any airport should strive to achieve excellence in two vital areas: safety and facility. Are we paying attention to those? It seems from Mr. Aref's letter that we are not. During my recent one-month stay in Dhaka, I have had to go through ZIA myself, besides also having to go there a number of times to either receive or see-off other family members. Since space is a restriction here, I will dwell on only a few of my observations relating to the airport in question. When one is departing, the first thing that hits that person are the scores of individuals wearing bright yellow vests (with the letters "CAAB" written on them) and holding on to all the available luggage trolleys with their dear lives. When I witnessed that, I was left wondering, "Are those their personal trolleys?" "Did they bring those from home?" It turned out that those belonged to someone else (I am sure you can guess who), for when I asked one of them, "Is this yours?" the answer was "No". "So, why are you holding on to it?" "I will carry your luggage for you, that's why". That was very unsettling for me, for as far as I could tell, I was not an invalid person. I am not quite sure whether or not CAAB has that kind of a role defined for these individuals. If so, it is not befitting an "international" airport. If not, then they should seriously look into the matter. Of course, any airport can have a porter service - in which case it should be regulated, and not rampant. Gaining entry into the arrival lounge to receive a passenger is like trying to storm a fort. One has to have a "pass" to do so, and strangely, there did not seem to exist any booth of any sort to issue such a pass. So, who do you get it from? From someone sitting in an office INSIDE the airport building. But you can't get inside! Smart - or maybe, dumb! If you would like to prevent half of Dhaka city population from getting into the arrival lounge (this is an overpopulated country, remember?), the least you can do is charge a fee for it. Those "fanatically" eager to receive passengers would not mind parting with a some hundreds (or maybe even a couple of thousands) of taka to do that - and the airport authorities could collect a handsome revenue from it. What could be a better win-win situation than this! On one occasion though, I could manage a pass - through some "connections" (if that was the way to do it). And when I entered the arrival lounge, a sizeable portion (if not half) of Dhaka city was already there! If all of them were here through connections, I'd say that this country was pretty well connected! Arriving at ZIA during this visit, I knew I had to go to the parking lot, but I did not know how. There were no signs giving me directions, so I had to ask. Thankfully, I speak the language! How can the authorities assume that a first-timer, speaking a different language will know the way to the parking lot? Like an animal driven by some sort of a primeval instinct? Maybe they assume right. Who knows?
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