KOLKATA: The 10-minute parking window at the airport, which has triggered endless dispute among motorists and parking fee collectors, is set to be abolished from Wednesday. A new pocket-friendly parking fee structure will be rolled out to encourage proper use of the two-tier parking lot at the airport that is currently under-utilized.“The 10-minute window for vehicles to enter and exit the airport without being levied parking charges is being done away with. Instead, if they are found hanging around the pathway in front of the terminal, they will be first asked to head to the parking lot that levies a minimum charge of Rs 40 for 30 minutes. But if a driver refuses to listen and clog the pathway, a steep fine of Rs 400 would be slapped,” said a senior airport official.The decision comes as a huge relief to motorists. In the past, car drivers, fliers and their family members had on numerous occasions had an ugly spat with the parking attendants at the exit kiosks with the former alleging the agency had fudged the entry and exit time and deliberately caused snarls at the exit point to force motorists cough up Rs 100 as parking fee for exceeding the 10-minute window. The parking fee collection agency, in turn, alleged that motorists resorted to parking on VIP Road and even the flyover that leads to the airport to avoid paying the fee.Actor Kaushik Sen and his son were allegedly heckled by parking attendants at the airport in December 2017. Five persons were arrested in the case and parking fee collection was shut down for at least a month. Though the Airports Authiority of India (AAI) took multiple initiatives thereafter, including setting up of two digital clocks at the entry and exit gates and increasing the number of parking fee collection kiosks from three to six, complaints kept pouring in.Now with the 10-minute window gone, airport officials hope it will put an end to complaints of harrassment by motorists arriving in private vehicles. “A recent survey has found that a driver require a maximum of seven minutes to enter and leave the airport and a maximum of three minutes for a pick-up or drop. But the steep fine has been kept just to ensure no one misuses the facility,” said the official.For commercial vehicles though, there will be an access fee of Rs 60. That means if a passenger hires a luxury taxi to the airport, it will have to pay the access fee. Beyond 30 minutes, the regular parking fee of Rs 100 for the first two hours will be applicable.The agency managing the parking lot at the airport hope the new structure will encourage more people to park their cars and increase its collection. In the past, parking fee collection agencies that had operated in Kolkata airport had alleged huge losses due to low use of the parking lot. While app-based cab aggregators Uber and Ola have entered into agreements for payment of parking fees, yellow metered cabs are not charged any access fee.

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