The authorities of Biju Patnaik International Airport have decided to collaborate with the police to start a pre-paid taxi service at the city airport. At present, taxi service of a private cab aggregator is available at the city airport.

Airport director S.C. Hota said a meeting with the police was held last month in this regard. “We are in the process of finalising the modalities of the taxi service. The fare will be decided according to the fare of the state transport department. The service will start by this year.”

Hota said the service would be helpful for security of passengers of the airport. “Police will mange the service and it will also verify the antecedents of the taxi drivers. Besides, they will also keep details of the vehicles of the prepaid service,” Hota said.

Passengers said an unregulated taxi price had been a major concern at the city airport. “Most of the time the private taxis demand exorbitant price especially during night hours. The taxi drivers also misbehave with the passengers over fare,” said Amiya Pradhan, a frequent flyer.

The city airport registered a 39.4 per cent growth in passenger traffic in 2017-18 compared to 2016-17.

According to official statistics a total of 3250635 passengers, both domestic and international, flew from the airport in 2017-18 while the number was 2332433 in 2016-17.

The police had earlier introduced pre paid autorickshaw service at Barmunda bus terminal, Bhubaneswar railway station and KIIT University. The police said the proposed prepaid taxi booth at the city airport will feature the police logo and would be guarded by a police personnel.

“The prepaid taxi service will give a sense of security to the passengers visiting the city. We have come across a number of incidents in which passengers were harassed over fare of taxi. The point to point fare structure will be fixed as per the government fare,” said a police official.