Police to help fliers find taxi
The new Bidhannagar commissionerate has deployed 30 green police volunteers at the airport taxi stand and the prepaid counters to make it easier for fliers to find a ride to the city.
The commissionerate plans to increase deployment and set up two new prepaid taxi counters on the premises.
There are three prepaid counters at the airport: two run by Wenz cars outside the domestic terminal and one by Bengal Taxi Association inside. The counters outside are often shut by 10pm, while the queue never seems to end at the other one.
Taxi unions now control the booths and, in the absence of monitoring, harass passengers at will. Metro has been campaigning for better facilities at the airport and highlighting the taxi torment faced by fliers.
“Revamp of the prepaid taxi system topped our agenda when we took charge of the policing of Salt Lake and the airport last month. We have started making some changes and more passenger-friendly changes are in the pipeline,” said Rajeev Kumar, the commissioner of Bidhannagar police.
“We received a lot of complaints from passengers who, after paying at a prepaid counter, could not find the taxi that was supposed to take them to their destination. Hence, each passenger is now being given a serial number according to his position in the queue instead of a taxi registration number. A green police volunteer is noting down the number and hailing a taxi for him. The passengers would not have to take the trouble of finding their own taxis any more,” said Kumar.
The commissioner also said he would ensure that touts could not hang around the airport and minimise taxi refusal and overcharging.“Our officers will make sure that the prepaid counters do not close before 11pm,” he added.
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