The first act of Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji on landing in his chartered aircraft at Mandakalli airport here at Mysore on 20th of October 2009 was to kneel on the tarmac facing east and pray.

I was among those who received the Swamiji on his arrival from Pondicherry to celebrate Deepavali. Later, while traveling with the Swamiji by car to his Ashram, the Swamiji said that since it was his first landing in the airport (after it was informally opened in a hurry to facilitate tourists during Dasara); the Swamiji blessed the airport and sought the grace of God for its proper development, safety and security. He prayed for the happy and comfortable journey of all passengers using the airport.

After seeing the airport, for sure, I thought the airport needs not only the blessing of this one Swamiji but also of many more to make it safe, secure and suitable for air - craft of all sizes and not just for small aircraft of ATR - 72 type and others.

The major constraint in developing a full - fledged airport has been the land. For big aircraft to operate, a minimum of 500 acres of land is required. Only then a 2. 2 km length runway can be built to enable bigger aircraft to land and take off. Unfortunately that much of land is not available. Not for the reason of the farmers demanding very high compensation (some are demanding Rs. 1 crore per acre, it is said) but for the unlikely reason of non - cooperation from the Railways and the Public Works Department.

The government had requested the Railways at the time of laying the broad gauge line recently, to shift it by a certain distance, as the land was required for airport development. The Railways ignored the request and the government (or the Ministers concerned both in the State and at the Centre) did not take action to make the Railways abide by the request.

Similarly, towards East and North there is a need to close the existing highway and divert it to provide land for the airport. Here, too, there was no co - operation from the concerned departmental authorities. The higher government authority too did not pursue the matter. So, it is unlikely this airport will be useful to the common man who will definitely require major flight operators with bigger aircraft to use this airport and make it economical for him. Otherwise, this airport with a small runway of just 1. 7 km will be good enough only for the VIP movements and small tourist groups of not more than 72 passengers.

It is learnt, the present runway, taxiway and apron (where just three aircraft can be parked) are built at a cost of Rs. 30 crore. This includes boundary walls and also the operational roads as well as the perimeter road. The apron is designed to park only three aircraft which means not more than three aircraft can land here at a time. According to District Administration, the present airport is located on 174 acres of land in the I Phase and it requires another 93 acres for the final II Phase. This will enable even big aircraft to land.

During this year’s Dasara, the Kingfisher operated smaller aircraft, one flight a day, for six days in association with Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. After this, there has been no such commercial flights arriving in this airport, except the chartered flights of VIPs like that of the Swamiji.

It is learnt, the work award value for the building is Rs. 29 crore. The National Building Construction Corporation was awarded the work, which in turn entrusted the work to BM Consortium, a Kolkata - based company. What a pity? The building work is very shabby and substandard.

One frequent traveler who was with me at the airport had a checklist of half – a - dozen flaws in construction. They have used wall tiles for flooring selectively which are not anti - slid. This high gloss wall tile is specifically used for wall cladding only and they are 40 % cheaper than the floor tiles which are anti - slid. Even the way they are laid cry for correction.

The carelessness in the execution of the job is so conspicuous that they had fixed the massive glass partition even before cladding the RCC pillar which is exposed naked as they are unable to clad it now. The luggage delivery system and the area needs a second look. The asphalted drive - ways are not compacted well enough is obvious from the black granules floating on the surface.

And imagine, this airport building has three urinary pans (basins) for men, while over 100 passengers can be expected at any given time when a smaller commercial flight lands or takes off.

Is it not too inadequate a rest room? And worse, the way these basins are fixed to the wall with separators. The basin seems longer than the ceramic separator and the urinary block is perpendicular to a mirror close to it.

As a result, the persons easing themselves at the urinals are reflected in the mirror to be seen by those who use the wash basin. I would like to honour the architect and interior designer of this airport lavatory for his sense of humour or sadism or being a voyeur.

It is sad our people have no love in what they do for use by our own people. Hence, our public buildings lack quality, aesthetics, imagination and are not at all user - friendly. Even backward African countries have provided themselves better infrastructure than we the developing country. Jai Hind