BENGALURU: Within 24 hours of its introduction, the
entry fee
for private and commercial vehicles entering the arrival pick-up lanes at Terminals 1 and 2 of
Kempegowda International Airport
has been scrapped, reports SuchithKidiyoor.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd
(BIAL), the
KIA operator
, had suspended collecting entry fee on Monday itself after running into strong resistance from
taxi drivers
.
BIAL
had put up notices on the
airport
premises about the entry fees.
The collection of entry fee soon turned into confrontations between taxi drivers and BIAL executives, with the former terming it "arbitrary and daylight robbery".
A BIAL spokesperson confirmed the entry-fee order has been revoked. "The collection of entry fee was stopped Monday night. An internal team is reviewing the decision on the entry fee."
KIA entry fee would've only burdened flyers: Cabbies
Heated arguments were the order of the day at the arrival pick-up lanes of Terminals 1 and 2 of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Monday. Videos of agitating taxi drivers arguing with BIAL staff went viral after the authority started collecting entry fee from private and commercial vehicles coming to the arrival lanes.
BIAL was collecting Rs 150 for the first seven minutes and Rs 300 for the next seven minutes from commercial vehicles. For private vehicles, the first seven minutes were free, and Rs 150 was charged for the next seven.
Basavaraj Y, who runs a taxi from the airport, said, "BIAL deducting money from the FASTag account of drivers was arbitrary and goes against the interest of both drivers and passengers. The entry fee charged on taxis is transferred to passengers, so it will burden them further. When we pick up passengers at T2, it usually takes longer as they take over 20 minutes to reach the pick-up point. If entry fee is collected, we end up paying Rs 300 more."
Srinivas Reddy, another driver, said he went to T2 around 3pm Monday to pick up a passenger. "I didn't have enough balance in my FASTag account, so they issued a challan while exiting. It took me 10 minutes to pick up the passenger. They charged a fee of Rs 300. For the first seven minutes, they charged Rs 150, and for spending three minutes more, they imposed another Rs 150... I feel BIAL introduced the rule to eliminate small-time taxi operators from coming to the airport," he said.
Karnataka State Private Transport Association
president Nataraj Sharma said, "The airport has been collecting user development fee from passengers for the amenities provided there. For using the toll road to reach KIA, passengers pay Rs 110. On top of this, they started charging entry fee on Monday. This was totally against the interests of passengers as well as taxi drivers."
Why was fee introduced?
An official from BIAL, which operates KIA, maintained that the entry fee was introduced to streamline the flow of vehicles on arrival pick-up lanes and prevent their overstaying, causing inconvenience to passengers. The authority also said the seven-minute window provided to enter the kerb area in front of the terminal and exit the lane after picking up passengers was reasonable. The official maintained that such fees already exist in other airports across India.
The entry fee wasn't applicable to taxi aggregators and airport taxi operators with designated pick-up points at the airport.
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