A security personnel deployed at the TIA said that sweepers clean the road and dump it alongside the main entrance every morning. “This has been happening since the end of monsoon last year,” he said and added, “There is an incineration cote at the airport but they still dump the garbage near the gate.” [break]
Sources at the TIA claim that the Civil Maintenance Division (CMD) of the airport headed by Narayan Giri is solely responsible for the upkeep of the airport. The CMD, however, has assigned the task to contractors.
“Four different contractors look after the international, domestic, cargo and landside sections of the airport,” said Wakeel Chimuria, an engineer at the division. He admitted that there have been flaws despite their effort to maintain the standard of the airport but declined to comment further.
Chief of the Civil Maintenance Division Narayan Giri, who is the authorized person to allocate contracts, attributed negligence of workers instead of supervision for sorry state of the airport.
Ripu Mardan Thapa, Information Service Center chief of the International Terminal Office, said all he can do is to instruct the staff to keep his department tidy but he is not the person responsible to make policy for keeping the airport clean.“We prepare a daily report about the defects that we observe under the coordination of Devendra KC, the second in command of the TIA, and submit it to the General Manager. Chief of the CMD Giri, who is the concerned person, is also present while we prepare the report but I don´t know what happens to the report,” he said.
A source at the airport said that the salary of the house-keeping staff was increased from Rs 4,700 to Rs 7,000 about four months ago soon after Giri was appointed the chief of the CMD. But their efficiency has declined even though the contractors make away with 15 percent of the salary of more than 150 house-keeping staff.
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