Parl panel expresses serious concern over 'huge backlog' of 708 air traffic controller vacancies

A Parliamentary Committee on Monday expressed serious concern over a "huge backlog" of 708 vacancies for the post of air traffic controllers (ATCOs).

New Delhi:A Parliamentary Committee on Monday expressed serious concern over a "huge backlog" of 708 vacancies for the post of air traffic controllers (ATCOs).
Out of 3,871 sanctioned posts of ATCOs, the available strength is 3,163, which means there are 708 vacancies, stated a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture, which was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

"The Committee notes with serious concern that there is a huge backlog of 708 vacancies in the post of ATCOs," it mentioned. Despite this fact, most of the posts of ATCOs at different levels were created in 2013, 2014, and 2015 only, it stated. "Since the year 2017, there has been no post creation at any level for ATCOs," it mentioned. The proposal for the creation of 340 additional posts of ATCOs has been taken with the Department of Public Enterprise only recently, it stated.

The Committee said the demand for ATCOs will rise exponentially with the growth of the aviation sector in the country and feels that the Ministry of Civil Aviation should have anticipated the requirement of more ATCOs well in advance and inducted them continuously over the years. The Committee, therefore, recommended that procedural issues regarding manpower requirements of ATCOs should be addressed immediately to ensure that new airports that are being constructed do not suffer due to lack of ATCOs.

PTI