This story is from August 24, 2019

Now, cops to deal with VIP cars flouting Kolkata airport parking norms

The city airport authorities have asked cops to handle the problem of illegal parking by VIP cars outside the airport’s terminal and have ordered the parking contractor to inform the police whenever they find a beacon-fitted or “government” car illegally parked on the carriageway. However, they have been told not to take any action themselves.
Now, cops to deal with VIP cars flouting Kolkata airport parking norms
On Friday, cars fitted with beacons or “VIP” or “government department” boards continued to violate the no-parking norm
KOLKATA: The city airport authorities have asked cops to handle the problem of illegal parking by VIP cars outside the airport’s terminal and have ordered the parking contractor to inform the police whenever they find a beacon-fitted or “government” car illegally parked on the carriageway. However, they have been told not to take any action themselves.
The decision was taken after the general manager and an employee of the parking agency — appointed by Kolkata airport authorities to collect parking fee and keep the driveway congestion-free — were arrested on Thursday morning for clamping the wheels of a consulate vehicle parked in the no-parking zone.
The duo was later released on bail. On Friday, cars fitted with beacons or “VIP” or “government department” boards continued to violate the no-parking norm.
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“We had a detailed discussion with the police and it has been decided that the parking contractor will no longer directly book or clamp vehicles that have VIP stickers and are parked outside the terminal. The cops will be in charge of looking after and keeping the area clean,” said airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee. “No vehicle, including consulate, government or defence vehicles, are allowed to park in front of the terminal. These cars are exempt from parking charges, but they must park at the designated spot — either at the place allotted for VIP vehicles or in the parking lot. We don’t want the driveway to be blocked,” he said, adding that they were also trying to make a list of registration numbers of cars exempted from paying parking fees at the Kolkata airport and hand it over to the parking contractor to avoid any confusion.
The airport has a designated area between the old and new terminal buildings reserved for VIP parking. But the cars seldom park there. The flyers want to avoid walking till the terminal and blatantly flout norms by parking on the driveway.
According to the new rules effective from the start of this month, Kolkata airport authorities will allow only three minutes’ halt time for cars at both the departure and arrival levels. The move is aimed at curbing the practice of lingering in front of the terminal to avoid paying for parking. Those found idling will be fined Rs 400 by marshals deputed to keep the driveway free. However, “VIP vehicles” flout the rule without anyone taking them to task. The parking contractor employees who did question one such vehicle on Thursday ended up being arrested and getting slapped with a criminal case.

On Friday, a number of vehicles with “Government of India” boards and a car with a “CC”number plate — hinting that it belonged to a consulate — were parked for hours outside the terminal on the arrival level. In stark contrast, vehicles that had come to pick up citizens were shooed away by marshals. Those that lingered for more than the allotted time, were forced to pay the fine.
“I still fail to figure out what wrong I did by clamping a vehicle that was flouting the norm. The driver was nowhere to be found for almost half an hour and the marshal had to clamp the vehicle according to the rule,” said Babulal Yadav, general manager of the Delhi-based Mahesh Sunny Enterprises contracted to manage airport parking.
Yadav said they started penalizing vehicles for parking outside the terminal since August 8, four days after they took over. On an average, around 10-15 vehicles are fined every day. “We used to avoid the VIP cars and had been pleading with them to not park the vehicles there. Thursday was the first time we tried to penalize one such car and look what happened,” he said.
(With inputs from Mayukh Sengupta)
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About the Author
Tamaghna Banerjee

Tamaghna Banerjee, a reporter from Kolkata, covers crime, aviation, human rights and politics. He has a keen interest in human interest and rural reporting. He has done his postgraduation in journalism and mass communication. He has a total of 14 years in journalism.

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