Mr M.R. Vasudeva-Mangalorean Star
Mangalorean.com is proud to present our readers the Star of the month of June, a person who works very hard for the betterment of place and comfort through which thousands of people travel in and out of Mangalore. He was unknown to most of the people who traveled through the airport every day until recently it became the International Airport through the help of others with his hard work, dedication and commitment. He is none other than Mr Marpalli Ramayya Vasudeva, the director of Bajpe Airport.
Mr Vasudeva was born on October 10, 1952, in Narasimharajapura, Chickmagalur district. His forefathers belonged to the undivided district of Dakshina Kannada. Born to Ramayya and Saraswatamma, Vasudeva is the fifth son among eleven children. He is happily married to Nagaratna and is the proud father of two children. His son is presently studying for his MBBS degree at Kshema in Deralkatte. His daughter who has completed her engineering is married and settled in Bangalore.
Mr. Vasudeva holds education in high esteem and is himself an M.Sc in Statistics from Mysore University.
He also has other worthy qualifications to his credit, they are:
• MBA in Marketing Management – IGNOU
• PG Diploma in Personnel Management – Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan
• Graduate Diploma in Management – AIMA
• He has a distinction being Radar Controller ISO Lead Auditor & Marketing Manager He has served in many departments of the Government of India in various capacities such as Labour Bureau, Simla, DGE & T and Delhi Ministry of Labour. He was selected by UPSC twice as Assistant Employment Officer and then Airport Officer and has also attained many promotions in AAI, Ministry of Civil Aviation as Senior Manager, Asst. General Manager, Dy. General Manager & Joint General Manager.
Mr. Vasudeva is the Airport Director, in Mangalore since April 10, 2002. During his tenure in Mangalore, the Airport has made rapid progress in provision infrastructure. A second runway has been established, Taxiways have been added and Parking stands have been increased to four. Permitter Road and Permitter Wall have been constructed increasing the safety cover, Radar Commissioned providing DVOR, Intranet System etc. Beautification work has been taken up by providing Garden, Broadening of the Road, etc. Construction of 12 staff quarters has also been done.
Beautification work has been taken up by providing Garden, Broadening of the Road, etc. Construction of 12 staff quarters has also been done.
In view of the above, Bajpe Airport could get ISO 9001 certificate for its quality management system and the environment management certificate ISO 14001. It has also won the Best Fire Station Award. The Airport has bagged the award given by the town official language implementation committee for implementation of official language in Central Government Offices.
Mangalore Airport has been declared on 3rd May, 2006 as a customs Airport and the First International Aircraft has landed there on 3rd Oct, 2006. The Airport will get a New Terminal Building, APRON, etc. for which a notification inviting tender has been issued. Another New Arrival Hall and CANOPY would be ready by April 2007.
The culmination of these various efforts/activities could be seen in that a customer satisfaction index of 78% has been achieved for Mangalore Airport, which is the highest among all South Indian airports.
In all these achievements, the imprint of Mr. M R Vasudeva’s able hand is easily visible. His calm but hard bargaining stands, painstaking efforts, vision and dexterity with which he handled local land acquisition problems etc. have contributed to the progress made by Mangalore Airport in the recent years.
Mr. Vasudeva has spoken to team Mangalorean on various occasions before, but this time he spoke to us as our Mangalorean Star for the month of July.
Snippets from an interview with Mr Vasudeva:
When you took charge as the Director of Mangalore Airport Authority, how strong were your expectations that Mangalore Airport would be an International Airport? The construction of the second runway was the most important factor for the Mangalore Airport to be on its way to being an International Airport. Without this runway, there was no way for long haul aircraft to operate any destination to the Gulf.
The Government of Karnataka was ready to hand over land to the airport authority, but the problem of rehabilitation was an encumbrance. The problem of shifting the villagers had to be looked into as there was the risk of them being isolated; more so as in the present land there was a mosque, church and temple. It took some time to convince the people. We had to talk to the administration authorities, the MP’s and MLA’s of this area etc. and in the end, one by one the authorities helped us to convince the people. Once the second runway was ready the dream of Mangaloreans finally came true. This is why we are having international flights in Bajpe today as everything fell into place once the runway was completed. The Ministry of Civil Aviation gave permission to open more airports and this helped Mangalore.
Following this, Air India also opened more domestic flights to more destinations and in this work Mr. Ramalingam was a great help. All these factors helped to make Mangalore Airport the busy airport that it is today.
Mr Vasudeva’s message to Mangalorean.com readers:
Mr Vasudeva’s strong message to all Mangalorean.com readers is one which he follows religiously himself. He says, “We should not expect others to fight for our rights. We should take responsibility to fight for our own rights.”
Mangalorean.com thanks Mr. Vasudeva for his untiring efforts and service to the Mangalore Airport and takes this opportunity to wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
By R. K. Bhat – Team Mangalorean
——————————————————————————————–
Comments:
vinod rao, India:
“We should not expect others to fight for our rights. We should take responsibility to fight for our own rights.”…..well said…..but how many people understand it. Great work done, SIR, I applaud, Please keep doing good work for DK and the country.