30 September 2005 India airport strikes disrupt travel
Almost 20,000 Indian airport workers have staged a 12-hour strike in protest against plans to hand over the operation of New Delhi and Bombay airports to private firms.
Thousands of workers protested at airports across the country, as passengers were left stranded and dozens of flights were cancelled.
Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel insisted that the government would maintain normal air services, but many of the smaller, private carriers were forced to ground domestic services for the day.
The government later insisted that the strike had caused minimal disruption to services, while union leaders insisted it was bringing services to a standstill in many of the 78 airports across India.
The strike is the first to take place nationally since the Congress Party was elected in India last year.
MK Ghosal, general-secretary of the Airports Authority of India Employees Union, told Reuters: "The strike is a 100 per cent success. They (the government) have deployed some air force and navy personnel ... it is not a normal situation."
Hundreds of thousands of Indian bank employees were also expected to stage a walk-out today against economic reforms allowing foreign private firms to invest in the country's airports and pension funds.
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