prime minister

AMC

Jayant Kacha

terminal manager

Domestic and international passengers arriving at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad face a different sort of welcome. Along with eager relatives jumping up and down with excitement outside the gates are a group of stray dogs wagging their tails and weaving between the humans, scaring them half to death. Even though the dogs live, eat and breed on the airport premises, authorities have been doing nothing to solve this problem.Fliers who exit at the terminal have to cross a barricade of dogs at both the domestic and international terminals. With each visit, they find the number of dogs multiplying drastically. Not just dogs, even cows can be spotted squatting on the airport premises. Amish Modi, a 37-year-old professional from Thaltej, had gone to international airport some days ago to drop off a relative.“Outside the terminal gates, dogs surrounded us. They began weaving between our legs. It was disgusting. How can such a thing take place outside an airport which wants to be world-class? While ourwants India to draw international visitors and promote tourism, authorities here do nothing to removing this ‘welcome party’ from the airport. Is this what we want foreign visitors to our city to see the first thing after they land?” Sangita Singh, a 40-year-old resident of Bopal, had come to the airport to drop her sister who was going to Delhi. She said, “I have been to other airports, but nowhere have I seen dogs moving among passengers without any fear. This is ridiculous. The airport authorities should ensure that the condition of the airport is improved.”officials say, “We have not been asked by airport officials to sterilize the dogs there. May be this is the reason they are multiplying so fast.” Drof dog sterilization project said, “The dogs prefer living in and around the airport due to easy availability of food from nearby localities.” Airport Director R K Singh said, “The AMC team comes only after repeated reminders. We have also asked theto ensure there are no dogs in the area where passengers converge.” While officials continue to play pass-the-buck, dogs continue to terrorise passengers and their kin at the airport.