Naveeta D Singh for Mumbai Mirror

Mumbai, Jan 31: When you land at the Mumbai domestic or international airport today, you might not find trolleys stacked at vantage points for you to use, the conveyor belts might not be working, and urinals and basins may be anything but clean.The opening of the privatisation bids for the two airports at Mumbai and Delhi today coincides with an indefinite nationwide strike by airport employees starting at 12:30 pm. With nearly all levels of employees participating in the strike, unionists said passengers could expect a lot of hardships at the two airports in the city.

The consolation for passengers is that goods will be loaded on to flights as usual because loading has been outsourced to private firms for sometime now.The strike call comes after an alternate plan that the Airport Authority of India Employees Union (AAIEU) had suggested to the Civil Aviation Ministry was rejected. All 124 airports in the country will participate in the strike.  AAEU office-bearers said the entire workforce is angry because despite contributing between 60-65 percent of airport revenues, the government is still going ahead with privatsiation at the behest of big industrial players.