Body formed to divide CAA into two entities

Nine-person committee assigned to achieve task by Oct 15

ISLAMABAD:

A special nine-member committee has been formed to divide the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) into two separate entities, according to a notification issued on Saturday.

The notification read that the CAA would be bifurcated into the Pakistan Airport Authority and the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation.

Aviation Ministry Joint Secretary-II Shazia Rizvi has been appointed as the chairperson of the committee.
Vice Air Marshal Taimoor Iqbal will serve as the deputy of the body, which would complete its assigned task by October 15.

The committee will distribute the assets and funds of the existing CAA to the newly created departments. The body will also look into the transfer of officers, distribution of records, offices and furniture.

Apart from this, the distribution of machinery, vehicles and funds will also be the responsibility of the committee.
Aviation Ministry Joint Secretary-III Asif Iqbal, Finance Ministry Joint Secretary Abdul Malik, CAA Regulatory Deputy Director General Nadir Shafiq, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board President Commodore Mirza Aamir, CAA Finance Director Saqib Butt, Aviation Security Director Sameer Saeed, Airport Services Director Sadiqul Rahman, and CAA Human Resources Director Abid Ali Shah are the other members of the committee.

In recent times, the federal government’s decision to outsource the management of the country’s three major airports prompted strong protests from the CAA employees.

Read CAA workers protest outsourcing of airports

The authorities have started the outsourcing process at Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad airports to be run through a public-private partnership, a move meant to generate foreign exchange reserves.

The officers and employees unions of the CAA had announced to stage protests at airports across the country. The unions also decided to launch a movement to remove the current CAA director general.

In July this year, the CAA employees staged protests at the airports of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Sukkur, Gilgit, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, and Skardu.

The protesters carried banners and placards, shouting slogans against outsourcing and demanding the withdrawal of the decision.

In Karachi, where the CAA is headquartered, the authority’s employees wore black armbands and installed banners inscribed with slogans against proposed privatisation in the name of outsourcing of the three airports.

At the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, the CAA officials, on the call of the Akai and Jaca unions, staged a protest against the then PML-N-led federal coalition government’s decision of the outsourcing.

Earlier this month, the CAA unions postponed their protests after its management succumbed to their demands, particularly an increase in pension benefits.