Airport cargo caught in clash of the Senas

Mumbai: Months after Sena-led trade union begins charging Rs 500 from every vehicle for entry at airport cargo complex, MNS counterpart does the same; traders allege authorities are aware of the malpractice but haven't taken any action
The Shiv Sena-MNS rivalry seems to have spilled out from rallies and election campaigns into the airport complex. Sample this: sometime in the middle of last year, Maharashtra Maal Vahatuk Sena (MMVS), a Shiv Sena offspring, started collecting Rs 500 from traders, for every vehicle that enters the Mumbai Airport Cargo Complex in Sahar. Last month, the MNS-affiliate trade union Hawai Karamchari Sena, in a sort of delayed reflex, started collecting an equal amount per vehicle.
When the hapless traders inquired on what authority or rationale the collection is made, the reply is straightforward, "The other party's union is charging you, so we are charging you. If they stop the practice, we would stop it too."
"About six months ago, the Sena-supported union (MMVS) started charging Rs 500. Now, the MNS-led Hawai Karamchari Sena has started the same. We have to pay Rs 500 to each of the unions. The MNS workers said they would do stop the collection only if the Sena-backed trade union stopped it," a top trader said on the condition of anonymity.
MiD DAY is in exclusive possession of some of the receipts the two parties' unions furnished to tempo operators against a collection of fee of Rs 500.
15/02/12 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: airports Feb 2012, Cargo Feb 2012