Kolkata Air Traffic Control headed by a woman for the first time

Kolkata: Kolkata woman, Shyamli Haldar, became the first woman to enter the general manager of air traffic control (ATC) on Tuesday.

The ATC has been an exclusively male preserve space in India till now.

Haldar was amongst the nine woman controllers to be recruited in the year 1989. Prior to that, only three women had shared short stints: the first joined in 1973 but left after 2-3 years, the second was appointed in 1985 who left to join the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the third, who had joined in 1987, died in harness.

Shyamli Haldar was among the first batch of women air traffic controllers recruited three decades ago.

After training at the Civil Aviation Training College in Allahabad, Haldar's first posting was in Kolkata in 1991 where she, along with Aryama Sanyal (now Indore Airport director), were the only women controllers.

She has proved her mettle from the word go.

Her male colleagues soon realised that she had an edge over them. "A controller is required to be sincere and attentive. While all controllers have these skill-sets, we soon realised women can be more attentive. She was confident and bold," recounted Kolkata ATC joint General Manager (automation in-charge) Asit Sinha, one of the controllers who had seen her on her first day at work in 1991.

In the years that followed, Haldar qualified all the on-the-job examinations with high remarks along with approach rating and area rating before finally bagging the ultimate rating to become the country's first woman radar controller.

Haldar is a single mother who manages both home and job efficiently.

"I have followed a simple practice. I don't take my home to work and don't bring work home. I try to give my best to the job at hand. I dare say both my daughter and my job have rewarded me for the sincerity," she said.

Kolkata ATC joint GM (training in-charge of en route stream) Purbita Thakur Sinha, who had joined the team a year later, says that she was astonished by Haldar's self-assurance and confidence the first time they met.

"What sets her apart is her ability to fearlessly speak her mind. Her thoroughness and professionalism command respect," Sinha said.

Haldar is looking forward to an exciting journey in Kolkata as of now.

She is going to control a team of 300-odd controllers, implementing new time limitation norms for controllers and overseeing the migration to the new ATC tower and technical block once construction is complete.

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