After another day of fog havoc at Delhi airport, MiD DAY looks at how India Inc is working around the haze
After another day of fog havoc at Delhi airport, MiD DAY looks at how India Inc is working around the haze
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Stuck: An aircraft stands at the Delhi airport as fog blankets the city
File photo |
DELHI'S top executives are re-adjusting their lives around fog.
While the city's notorious natural spanner-thrower was up to serious tricks on Tuesday morning again, delaying morning flights by a minimum two-three hours, these professionals were armed with reworked schedules, replacing business meetings with video conferencing (and not just because of the economic slump), advancing trips, stepping up work from their Blackberries and laptops.
India Inc has resigned to the fact that the Rs 1,000-crore spent to fight fog this winter has gone waste because airlines did not bother to train pilots in the fog-combat CAT-IIIB technology.
"I advance my trips by a day, knowing well that I am ending up paying for an extra day in a hotel, especially in this time of meltdown," said Bharat Bali, vice-president National Geographic, India.
"To avoid trips, we are also using the video conferencing facility a lot," Bali said.
But there are certain appointments which cannot be long-distance affairs. Delhi-based transport analyst SP Singh, for instance, has to be present during government and private bids for infrastructure contracts held across cities.
"I have to be there physically, so I reach a day early even if I have to spend more," he said.
He had to attend a meeting in Ahmedabad at 11.30 am on January 5, so he flew on January 4 because that was a stretch when fog virtually laid siege on the Capital.
"My business schedule nearly went haywire because of fog this winter," he added.
Travel agents say there is a 10-15 per cent dip in bookings for morning flights compared with evening ones.
"Only those who have no way to avoid morning travel are booking early flights. Rest either take evening flights or cancel the trip," said Rajiv Rajji, president of the Travel Agents Association of India.
