Airport staff strike on March 11

February 17, 2015

New Delhi: The employees’ union of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Monday called an all-India strike at AAI-run airports on March 11 to protest against the government’s move to hand over the management and operation of four airports — Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Ahmedabad —possibly on a contract basis to private operators.

The decision to strike work was taken at a meeting of the joint forum of Airports Authority of India (AAI) associations and unions held on last Friday, Airports Authority Employees Union general secretary and Joint Form member Balraj Singh Ahlawat said in a letter to the civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Monday.

Ahlawat, in the letter, also said AAI employees will start an agitation with luncheon meetings from February 24, prior to going on strike on March 11.

Alleging that the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports during the UPA regime was a big "scam" and that civil aviation ministry had "closed down" old airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad without approval of the AAI board, Ahlawat said the government now wants to hand over four more airports, already modernised by AAI, to the private players.

The AAI had last month invited request for qualification (RFQ) from domestic and overseas private firms to hand over the management, operation and development of Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports, in which it has already invested Rs 5,000 crore.

Private corporates including Tata and Adani groups and existing airport operators GMR and GVK groups besides some foreign players have shown interest in the these airports following the RFQ.

Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi had said last week that the government will do whatever was in the "interest" of the country as far as airport privatisation is concerned.

"Those who want to oppose will oppose and those who want to support will support... you do what is in the interest of the country," the minister had said.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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