The union in its meeting with the ministry officials and chairman and board of directors of Airport Authority of India had said that they will wait till Tuesday evening for their demands to accepted, failing which they will start their ‘non-cooperation’ at airports across the country.

Meanwhile, Patel is said to have explained to the PM how existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports cannot be kept open — as per the demand of the union — when the new greenfield airports become operational later this month as it will be a breach of contractual agreement signed by the Government with the private partners developing these airports.

The union is opposing the shutting down of Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. They have also demanded that none of their staff working at Delhi and Mumbai airports should be transferred and should enjoy the same benefits as an AAI employee. The strike is likely to hit 127 airports as 14,000 employees will stall work.

“We sought three months’ time from the Government to decide our position and to inform us about theirs. But the Government did not give us a proper reply,” president of the union M K Ghosal said.

The union cited the recent Sitaram Yechury-headed Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report which strongly advocates not shutting down the existing Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. The union is very cautious this time terming the move as ‘non-cooperation’ and not a ‘strike’ to ensure the courts do not swing into action. A similar crippling ‘strike’ called by the unions and backed by the Left parties in February 2006, when the Delhi and Mumbai airports were privatised for upgradation, had invited the ire of the Delhi High Court. The court had then forbidden the union from impeding the functioning of the airports.

The employees had postponed a similar strike call in February this year after the Government said it will consider some of the demands. But talks in the last few weeks failed to break the deadlock.