The Story of Arab Shaik and his Camel

The Hyderabad Shamshabad International Airport insisting upon prepayment of landing charges by Air India, can serve as the best example of the proverbial axiomatic tale 'The Arab Shaik and his Camel'.

A desert. An Arab Shaik was camping in a tent. Night time. It was extremely cold outside. His camel was shivering outside the tent. The Shaik took pity on his camel and allowed it to project its head slightly into the tent, to save itself from the cold and hot winds.

The camel used the opportunity to gradually intrude into the tent, first by inserting its left foreleg, then the right foreleg, the left hind leg and finally its right hind leg.

The Shaik started, even in his sleep, to feel that something was pushing him out by neck. He woke up alert, and found to his surprise that the intruder was none other than the camel itself.

The Shaik, with all his energy, dragged the camel out and tightened the tent strings and closed all entrances. He also kept a guard with instructions to watch the camel carefully.

Air India and the Indian Airlines Corporation were the principal carriers of Indian Nation in sixties and seventies.

Indian Railways run their own rail stations and terminals. State- Run Road Transport Corporations and Undertakings (e.g. A.P.S.R.T.C.) build and run their own Bus Stations. On the same analogy, Air India should have been allowed to build and run Internatinal Airports. Indian Airlines could have been allowed to build and run Indian Airline should have been allowed to build its own domestic airport.

The Andhra Pradesh Government procured land from the poor peasants of Rangareddy District and allocated to the Private Airport Builder at prices lower than the market prices. Both the Central and the State Governments have extended numerous tax concessions to the Airport builder to make his project economically viable.

The user charges levied by the Airport on the passengers as well as the Airlines are also very heavy.

Air India is gasping for breathe, as it has a plethora of problems to attend to.