The first impression a foreign traveller gets of a country is its airport, how it is maintained and the facilities it offers to incoming and outgoing passengers.
The Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), the premier international airport of Bangladesh, as expected, has scored very poorly as far as the foreign travellers' first impression is concerned.
A survey conducted by an organization named---Sleeping in Airports--- has found the HSIA to be the ninth worst airport in Asia, Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport being at the top of the list.
"Everywhere smells, very rude immigration police and airport staff, corrupt people and insects everywhere", the survey quoted a traveller, who had experience with the HSIA, as saying.
The 14-word impression made by the foreign traveller in question speaks volumes about the sorry state of the HSIA.
If compared with the size, quality of service and availability of modern facilities in most Asian airports, the HSIA stands nowhere. Even domestic airports of many Southeast Asian countries are far more modern and efficient than the HSIA.
It is unlikely that the men heading the agencies such as the Bangladesh Police, the Civil Aviation Authority and the National Board of Revenue would take the trouble of going through the findings of the survey carried out by the Sleeping in Airports and initiate remedial measures.
There is no denying that the HSIA or any other airport in Bangladesh is grossly ill-maintained. The HSIA does not have many modern facilities available with most international airports in Asian countries.
Yet travellers' life can be made relatively comfortable if the available facilities are maintained well and men employed at the airport by various agencies offer sincere and efficient services. But none seems serious about ensuring those.
Take the case of the rest rooms at the HSIA. 'It stinks' would be the instant reaction of anyone using those.
More than the inadequate availability of facilities that modern airports offer these days, what irritate the passengers passing through the HSIA or any other international airport in Bangladesh is the inhospitable attitude of a section of immigration and customs officials.
Migrant workers, who are usually not familiar with necessary formalities and requirements at the airports, are subjected to harassment by these officials. The basic objective behind harassing the passengers is to squeeze out a few extra bucks. Had the immigration people been true to their duties, not many workers could have left the airport without valid employment visas. Because of 'prior arrangements' the officials concerned overlook certain things. These are all open secrets at the airports in this part of the world.
The country's policymakers are prone to highlighting the achievements every now and then. Of course, there are achievements in various sectors of national life. There are failures and inadequacies too. But the government leaders tend to be shy of recognising those openly and initiate remedial actions.
But inaction on the part of the successive governments has led to receiving a lot of international stigmas of being 'worst' performer in many areas.
Certainly no citizen cherished the dubbing of Dhaka as the worst or the second worst liveable city on earth. Nor he or she is enjoying the listing of the country's premier airport as the ninth worst in Asia. In the event of international or regional surveys, many more areas or facilities might face similar unpalatable rankings.
It is a fact that the country does not have enough resources to spend on too many modern equipment or improved and state-of-the art facilities. But the problem remains with the efficient use of whatever resources available. The poor quality management and widespread corruption remain to be major hindrances.
The problem does not lie with the leadership alone. A large section of the population is also not adequately educated and motivated to behave in a disciplined manner and keep all the public facilities, be it a road or an airport or a railway station, clean.
Leaders and other influential people in this country waste more time on dishing out political harangues. But very rarely they urge the people to maintain cleanliness in their personal life and help keep clean cities and towns and all the public facilities. In the absence of any motivational campaign, the people, seemingly, developed a habit of littering the roads and other public places with almost everything. The streets and pavements of Dhaka bear testimony to that fact.
Over population is cited as a major problem for the breakdown of discipline and lack of cleanliness in major cities and public facilities in particular. But that is hardly true. There are many crowded cities in the world that are clean and well-maintained. What works best in those cities is management.
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