Problems at the Birsa Munda International Airport (BMIA) seem to be worsening for the passengers as the parking agents continue to extort passengers and their kin, deliberately creating hurdles in smooth movement of vehicles on the driveway so that everyone entering into it has to pay the parking charges.
The parking agents make vehicles parked at the terminal in such a way that they hinder the vehicles heading towards the exit point, resulting into frequent jams which easily kill five minutes’ time making passengers to pay the parking charges.
“Yes, I am quite aware of the jam which occurs mostly during afternoon for which we have already deputed two staffs for smooth movement of vehicles but apparently they are not able to control it. Hence, during a meeting of Aerodrome Committee held a day before, we have demanded two traffic personnel from the Home Secretary to control the traffic on the drive way,” said Airport Manager Manoj Singh. A request has also been made to ensure a PCR van during peak hours at the Airport during rush hours, he added.
The official said that any vehicle entering into the terminal is provided an electronically generated token by a hand held electronic boom bar at the entry on which the time of entry of the vehicle is depicted. The token is valid for only five minutes and anybody crossing the time limit has to pay the parking charges fixed for different vehicles by the airport authorities at the exit where the parking staffs have been deputed to check timings entered on the slip.
People who enter the driveway have to struggle hard to get out of it as the cabs waiting outside for the passengers are parked in a haphazard way, apparently to create hurdles for those who have gone there to pick or drop their family members and acquaintances so that they could be charged for parking in the terminal.
Passengers along with their acquaintances do have to confront such situation every now and then as they have to pay parking fee ‘illegitimately’ charged by the unruly parking agents.
A cab driver, visiting the Airport quite often, revealed that the problem has worsened after the tender was awarded to a new contractor as they do not follow the guidelines issued by the Airport Authority and have been charging arbitrarily from those entering into the terminal.
“If someone enters the driveway, he is made to pay the parking charges even if he takes less than five minutes time,” said the cab driver. The Airport Manager ruled out any such practice saying that no single instance of such kind has been reported to him.
“I have not received any such complaint so far... we will definitely take action if such instance is brought to our notice,” said Singh. Moreover, parking agents have been directed not to take parking charges if someone gets delayed by up to one minute, he added.