Passengers using Calcutta airport will continue to face many of the problems that inconvenience them now.
The problem of trolleys remaining scattered on the lanes in front of the arrival terminal continues and will probably go on because the airport authorities on Thursday once again extended the present contract for trolley retrieval with NIS Management till April, and it does not include a proposal to have sensors fitted with the trolleys. The tout menace also continues and a large space opposite the old domestic terminal is being used by these people to illegally park their cars and fleece passengers, mostly who are going there to take a bus.
Trolley trouble
On Thursday, the airport authorities extended the contract for trolley retrieval for another three months, till April, with NIS Management. This was the fourth interim extension of the contract in about a year.
A source at the airport said the agency that had won the tender floated in October, has not shown interest.
“We have been issued a letter by the Calcutta airport authorities to continue till April,” said an official of NIS Management. The new tender had clauses that the agency would have to earn revenue through advertisements and also pay a fee to the authorities.
Now, the airport authorities pay around Rs 18 lakh to NIS Management for 63 trolley retrievers per month. That would continue till April, said sources.
However, the agency’s proposal to have the trolleys fitted with sensors so that those that are left by passengers away from the terminal and inside the parking lot can be traced and retrieved faster was not included in the contract.
Metro saw on Thursday trolleys scattered in the lanes in front of the arrival level of the terminal. Vehicles had to slow down and drive past these trolleys, creating chaos.
Touts
On Thursday afternoon, a white car with a commercial number plate pulled up next to a couple of young men who had just stepped out of the airport and the driver demanded to know where they wanted to go.
The men said Esplanade and pat came the reply that the fare would be Rs 900 without the air-conditioner.
The fare for an app cab ride from the airport to Esplanade hovers around the Rs 500-700 mark on weekday afternoons.
Metro asked the same driver what he would charge for a ride to Bally Halt on the fringes of the city and the man said it would cost Rs 1,200. The fare for the same trip in app cabs, even during surge timings, hovers around Rs 500-800 mark.
The car was driving in front of the old terminal building and was stopping near anyone with luggage to ask them about their destination and then quoted his price.
Vikash Singh and Dhiman Chaudhury from Murshidabad had landed in the city from a vacation in Goa. They later booked an app cab to Esplanade.
Scenes like this play out every day at the airport with taxi touts having a free run despite a police crackdown.
Metro has reported on multiple occasions how touts fleece passengers.
Last week, the police arrested several touts but nearly all of them are out on bail.
“They obtained bail and resumed their activities. Most are backed by unions and many parking attendants are hand in gloves with them,” a senior officer of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate said.
Another officer said a section of parking attendants has been in touch with unions backing these touts and negotiating the rates for parking.
According to an airport official, around 100 cars are used by these touts who illegally park their cars opposite the old terminal building.
“We park overnight here. Nobody says anything,” said a driver.