Experience of Dropping Passengers at Chennai Airport (in fact, any in MBM??)

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Experience of Dropping Passengers at Chennai Airport (in fact, any in MBM??)

From a friend of mine...

It is clear that the authorities laying down such impractical stipulations are down right "idiots" or worse.....

Experience of Dropping Passengers at Chennai Airport (in fact, any in MBM??)

When New Delhi is in the grips of Aam Anarchy from today morning, I had an experience of fighting the system at the Madras Airport, where I had driven my son who had to board the Delhi Flight. We reached the In Gate of the Airport at 3.45 pm.

At the parking ticket counter the lady manning it gave me a ticket, which allowed 5 minutes free stay of the car beyond which Rs 70/- will be levied, per every 30 minutes. The new departure terminal for which you have to drive the car over the fly over, and to reach the exit gate, the distance is around 2 km. There are eight speed breakers to cross en route. The speed of the vehicle cannot exceed 30 km per hour. It took us 1.5 minutes to reach the domestic departure terminal, 2 minutes to unload the luggage from the boot and shake hands with the traveler, and 2.5 minutes to reach the exit gate.

The attendant there took my ticket and fed it in the computer and said that I had clocked 6 minutes and therefore have to pay Rs 70/-. I told her that I had not wasted any minute and if it had taken 6 minutes then their system was wrong. I refused to pay and asked for an officer to talk to. I was told that there was none available and there was no option but to pay up. But, I refused. I drove my car to the Air Port Police Station and met the Head Constable there and explained my problem. I volunteered to take him in my car on the same route so that he could clock himself the time that would take for any driver to traverse the distance.

The Police let me out of the VIP gate without charging the penalty.

To my surprise, my wife, who would have normally coaxed me to pay the amount at the first instance itself, instead of creating a scene, told me not to pay but to fight the system, which was obviously wrong. Was it the effect of AAP? Has it created an awareness in the minds of common folks to fight for their own rights?

The reason for such incidents is that the Toll Booths are manned by private contractors, who are bent upon making money at any cost. But, what about the Officials who have awarded the contract to them? Can they not visualize that 2 km stretch of road, with eight speed breakers, cannot be traversed in 5 minutes, at a speed of 30 km per hour? When I tried it out it took 8 minutes, which included 2 minutes for halting at the terminal to alight the passenger and to unload the luggage.

Is there any hidden message of official collusion with the contractor, so that every car is charged a minimum of Rs 70/-, and the 5 minutes stipulation is just for publicity sake?

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With best wishes

S Chander

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