Guwahati: Three retired civil service officers have urged airport authorities to add Assamese to the public announcements at Guwahati airport’s Terminal 2.Kuladhar Saikia (ex-IPS), Jyotirmoy Chakrabarty (ex-IPS) and Mukul Chandra Gogoi (ex-ACS) raised the issue last Friday, citing civil aviation directives that mandate or encourage regional languages alongside Hindi and English.“The current practice appears to be inconsistent with the official directives and advisories issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which mandate or encourage the use of regional languages in airport communications alongside Hindi and English,” they said.They added that Assamese announcements are also critical for safety during emergencies.“In the event of an emergency within the terminal building or on board an aircraft, clear and immediate communication in the regional language is crucial to ensure that passengers fully understand and promptly comply with vital safety instructions. A failure to employ the regional language during critical situations could aggravate an emergency and potentially lead to avoidable mishaps or disasters due to miscommunication,” they said.Airport officials said on Tuesday they are working to introduce Assamese through an automated announcement system at the new terminal. They said Assamese has been integrated, but rollout was delayed after testing found pronunciation errors in some words.“Assamese is already used at the old terminal, where announcements are made manually in Assamese, Hindi and English. With the implementation of the automated announcement system at the new terminal, testing revealed several pronunciation errors in the Assamese announcements. The rectification of these issues is currently in progress with the assistance of language experts and our team before commissioning,” an official said.The official added that Assamese announcements should begin in 10 to 15 days.
