Calcutta airport forces cars heading for the arrival area to take a circuitous route through a multi-level underground parking lot devoid of signage clarity and then charges Rs 100 if the time spent between the entry and exit exceeds 10 minutes.
A private car or taxi is entitled to 10 minutes of "free waiting" on the airport premises, most of which is usually spent queuing up at the entry and climbing up and down and turning left and right to reach the arrival section at the other end of the cavernous parking lot.
A first-time visitor is more than likely to get confused and end up in front of the walkway to the terminal, in which case more minutes would be lost reversing the car and taking the proper exit lane. The exit lane doesn't specify either where the vehicle will reach - the passenger pick-up area or elsewhere - until the person at the wheel has reached the last stretch of the maze.
For the state-run airport, of course, all this means an extra Rs 100 in revenue at the expense of a car owner or driver who would otherwise have completed the pick-up and exit within the free waiting period.
Cars entering the airport have to go through toll booths where attendants give out parking tickets mentioning the time of arrival.
15/12/15 Sanjay Mandal & Tamaghna Banerjee/The Telegraph
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A private car or taxi is entitled to 10 minutes of "free waiting" on the airport premises, most of which is usually spent queuing up at the entry and climbing up and down and turning left and right to reach the arrival section at the other end of the cavernous parking lot.
A first-time visitor is more than likely to get confused and end up in front of the walkway to the terminal, in which case more minutes would be lost reversing the car and taking the proper exit lane. The exit lane doesn't specify either where the vehicle will reach - the passenger pick-up area or elsewhere - until the person at the wheel has reached the last stretch of the maze.
For the state-run airport, of course, all this means an extra Rs 100 in revenue at the expense of a car owner or driver who would otherwise have completed the pick-up and exit within the free waiting period.
Cars entering the airport have to go through toll booths where attendants give out parking tickets mentioning the time of arrival.
15/12/15 Sanjay Mandal & Tamaghna Banerjee/The Telegraph
