Kolkata: Airport authorities have suspended at least three trolley retrievers for a month and threatened the agency manning the trolley handlers to sack anyone if found trying to fleece flyers by posing as assistance personnel.
The decision was taken after TOI on Friday reported on how a section of contractual staffers, sporting ID cards to give the illusion that they are authorized porters, stands at the base of escalators leading to baggage carousals in both domestic and international wings with trolleys to “assist” passengers. They target senior citizens and foreigners, and then fleece them, demanding Rs 500 from domestic fliers and $10 from international passengers.
“We have taken up the issue very seriously. There is a section of trolley handlers who are known for such mischievous activities for past several years. No matter how much we try and contain them, they play the union card and get away. But this time, we will take strict action against them. We have asked the agency that manages them to find out the culprits and deal with them on an immediate basis. We are also in the process of lodging an official complaint against the trolley touts,” said Kaushik Bhattacharjee, the airport director.
Since Friday morning, senior officials of the airport held a meeting over the issue and called all the handlers working at the airport for a test identification parade kind of check to find out the men who were accused of the crime. “We have suspended three men and have already asked the contractor to submit the passes of those involved,” said another official.
The three men who were spotted in the photograph carried in TOI on Friday are senior handlers who have been working at the airport for at least seven years, an official said.
Taking advantage of the absence of official porter service at the airport, a section of trolley retrievers under the contractor appointed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and contractual workers often pose as porters to earn the extra buck. Attempts by airport officials to curb the practice has met with limited success as the touts become active after 8pm when most officials retire for the day.
31/08/19 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
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The decision was taken after TOI on Friday reported on how a section of contractual staffers, sporting ID cards to give the illusion that they are authorized porters, stands at the base of escalators leading to baggage carousals in both domestic and international wings with trolleys to “assist” passengers. They target senior citizens and foreigners, and then fleece them, demanding Rs 500 from domestic fliers and $10 from international passengers.
“We have taken up the issue very seriously. There is a section of trolley handlers who are known for such mischievous activities for past several years. No matter how much we try and contain them, they play the union card and get away. But this time, we will take strict action against them. We have asked the agency that manages them to find out the culprits and deal with them on an immediate basis. We are also in the process of lodging an official complaint against the trolley touts,” said Kaushik Bhattacharjee, the airport director.
Since Friday morning, senior officials of the airport held a meeting over the issue and called all the handlers working at the airport for a test identification parade kind of check to find out the men who were accused of the crime. “We have suspended three men and have already asked the contractor to submit the passes of those involved,” said another official.
The three men who were spotted in the photograph carried in TOI on Friday are senior handlers who have been working at the airport for at least seven years, an official said.
Taking advantage of the absence of official porter service at the airport, a section of trolley retrievers under the contractor appointed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and contractual workers often pose as porters to earn the extra buck. Attempts by airport officials to curb the practice has met with limited success as the touts become active after 8pm when most officials retire for the day.
31/08/19 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
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