The recently inaugurated Birsa Munda Airport terminal garnered praise for its potential to usher in a new progressive era in State’s civil aviation scenario.
The passengers too seemed optimistic of the fact that the terminal will help the State and its capital in getting recognised nationally and internationally.
Joelle BEC, a nun returning to Paris after her five month stay in Ranchi, said, “This new terminal is really good and will prove to be very beneficial for Ranch in coming times. As predicted, this facility definitely has the potential to host international flights in near future, which will be a great relief for foreign travellers. I will have to wait for nine hours at the Delhi Airport for my flight to France, but if there is a direct flight to Ranchi from France next time I come here, then it will ease my travelling a great deal.”
But the new terminal is still far from perfect, if the passengers were to be believed. The air-travellers had loads to complain about after arriving at the terminal.
“I see all these cars here at the driveway, but my nephew was stopped from entering. When he tried to enter from the front entrance, he was stopped and was asked to bring the around from the rear entrance. This was confusing as there were no definite signs or signals depicting so,” stated B.N. Singh, one of the first passengers to arrive at the terminal in an Air India flight.
Parking arrangements were confusing as the new terminal lacks any.
Free bus service has been provided by the airport authorities to ferry arriving passengers without any means of transportation, but no arrangements were made to route them towards it.
A passenger, I Banarjee, complained, “There is no public transport facility near the terminal. We have been waiting here for the last 25 minutes but could not find a taxi or auto-rickshaw. Plus, there is no refreshment facility for passengers here.”
“There is no proper sitting arrangement alongside the driveway. This is troublesome for those who have to wait for the vehicles. Even a few chairs would have sufficed. Also, the ticket vending counters are not practical at all; we cannot see who is sitting on its other side. In a nutshell, the beginning is good, but the terminal still needs lots of work before its perfect,” one more passenger had to say.