Demand for monitoring of free parking time limit at Visakhapatnam Airport
Visakhapatnam: Even though the time limit for free parking of vehicles that drop off and pick up passengers from Vizag airport has been increased from five minutes to 10 minutes, some passengers complain that they continue to be charged, even if they exit within 10 minutes.
Responding to complaints made by passengers, the Airport Advisory Committee decided to increase the free parking time limit from five minutes to 10 minutes, in September. A signboard with the updated limit of 10 minutes has also been installed, but allegedly, the boys in-charge of fee collection have been blatantly flouting the rule.
“The clocks at the entry and exit gates of the airport need to be monitored. Even when I managed to reach the exit gate within 10 minutes after dropping my brother, the guys collecting the parking fees told me that I had exceeded 10 minutes. I insisted that I had not, but they behaved very rudely and asked me to first pay the charges, and then file a complaint against them,” said M. Abhishek, a government employee.
Some frequent fliers suggested that the airport authorities keep a tab on the parking contractor, and conduct surprise checks to ensure that timings were not being manipulated.
“What is even more worrying is that taxi drivers also charge parking fees, just to drop off passengers at the terminal. The transportation fare from the city to airport is already a concern for frequent travellers. The frequency of public buses needs to be increased. A drop in air fares means that sometimes air travel costs less than the railway fare, this has led to a surge in the number of middle class and lower middle class people who opt for air travel,” said K. Vijaykumar, a tour operator.
When contacted, a higher official of the Airport Authority of India, Vizag, said the passengers should immediately file a complaint when charged parking fees for less than 10 minutes. “Based on the complaint we can take action against the contractor and ask them to return the money,” the officer said.
