For MG Junghare and his team, absence of stress is unnerving

Armed with nearly 25 years of experience as an air traffic controller,MG Junghare, the head of air traffic management of Mumbai airport, seems to be the right person at the right job. With an uncluttered desk and a smile on his face, he deftly handles calls from his staff, his superiors and of course the VIPs.
Junghare wanted to be a pilot. However, due to want of funds required for pilot training, he could not fulfill his wish. However, his liking for the field of aviation brought him into the field of air traffic control. Joining as an aerodrome officer in civil aviation department of government of India in 1985, Junghare has risen through the ranks of bureaucracy to be the chief of air traffic control services at Mumbai airport since 2005. He is proud to handle a team of 220 officers under him who ensure a flight movement happens every few minutes without any possibility of error.
The job of an air traffic controller (ATC) involves operating the air traffic control systems round-the-clock to expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic and prevent mid-air collisions. It is an unenviable job that calls for lot of attention and precision and any lapse may mean an unrecoverable loss of life and property.
The fact that one has to take control of the movement of an aircraft with hundreds of passengers and crew in it is itself an unnerving thought. Most research studies therefore rate the job of an air traffic controller (ATC) as the most stressful one.
The ATC men at Mumbai airport — looking smart in blue uniforms — work round the clock in three shifts. While the night time is relatively less hectic, morning hours are peak time for departing flights while late evening is peak period for arrivals.
Besides monitoring the flights plying to and fro from the airport, the office of ATC is also responsible for monitoring the movements of the flight passing through the Mumbai airspace. The radar section is the most critical division of the office of ATC, which recruits officers who are typically below 40 and have more than 10-12 years of experience under their belt.
The division is manned by three officers at any given point of time – with two of them on the job with one extra officer pitched in to relieve each of them during their breaks that are taken every 60 minutes.
While the studies rate the ATC’s job to be highly stressful, Junghare does not feel it to be so. According to him, there is no job in the world which is stress-free, so why complain? Moreover, while he acknowledges the stress of the job, he admits that it has now become a part of his living.
Rather he sheepishly reveals that absence of stress is unnerving for him and his team of ATCs.
While the rigour and stress of the job may not be apparent while speaking to a veteran like Junghare — one can realise it while he narrates his own experience as an ATC stationed in the radar division. Right from frequent urination to having more cups of tea or coffee to compulsive smoking — ATCs, especially the freshers, face it all.
Till some years ago, smoking was quite rampant in the radar room. Junghare, who was a chain smoker himself, still reminisces his boss’s words that ‘you couldn’t be said to successfully control an aircraft unless you have also enjoyed smoking two cigarettes while doing so’! Junghare, who quit smoking one fine day on May 23rd 2005, says that he has been doing yoga and self-hypnosis to de-stress himself.
The man, who is not willing to reveal his age when asked about retirement, is not yet ready to hang up his boots yet. He is proud to be heading the ATC division of the airport of the country’s financial capital and is enjoying every moment of it.
From keeping his team alert and motivated to being accountable to his higher ups for any glitches or delays to employing diplomacy in handling the VIPs — his job demands it all. He feels like a CEO handling an enterprise which has to service its customers well and also see that the revenues keep trickling in. However, he has not forgotten his roots. Even today, Junghare misses his days as a radar officer and likes to catch the action in the radar room whenever he finds time.
29/12/09 Kiran Kabtta Somvanshi/Economic Times