Kolkata: Taxi touts are back at the Kolkata airport, taking advantage of the slackened vigil by police who had kept their activities in check for a month. Police now plan to renew their drive against taxi drivers fleecing passengers arriving at their airport.
While 111 people were prosecuted between Dec 25, 2023 and Jan 6, 2024, or over nine persons a day, the figure has since dipped to two a day between Jan 8 and Jan 20.This, coupled with the release of those who had been prosecuted and arrested earlier, has led to the comeback of the notorious taxi touts. “On Monday, a taxi tout approached me and demanded Rs 1,160 for a 5km ride to Dum Dum Shyamnagar from the airport. Since I am a local, I know the actual price and ignored him. But those coming from other cities can be easily fooled,” said Alok Banerjee, who arrived in Kolkata from Gurgaon.
Pradip Mitra, another flyer from Delhi, who, too, reached Kolkata and was looking for a taxi to reach his Baguiati home was also approached by multiple touts and had a difficult time brushing them off. “Their numbers had significantly reduced last month but this time, I thought there were more touts than the airport has ever seen. The cops must do something to oust them from the airport,” said Mitra.
TOI was at the airport on Monday and Tuesday and found touts and car drivers, other than app cab or Yatri Sathi drivers, walking up to passengers and tailing them around. The men were everywhere, be it outside Gate Nos. 1A/B, 2A/B or 4A/B, ganging up in numbers and targeting passengers as they came out of the airport. TOI also found some cops still trying their best to reach out to passengers and help them book Yatri Sathi cabs but they were outnumbered by the number of touts.
A senior officer at Bidhannagar City Police said they were trying their best to contain the touts but admitted that eradicating them was next to impossible without the active participation of airport officials. “We arrest touts but after a certain point, it is impossible to completely stop their entry to the airport unless the airport authorities ban them. That will empower us to identify the persons and prevent their entry,” said Aishwarya Sagar, deputy commissioner (airport division) of Bidhannagar City Police. “We are reinforcing our drive against touts.”
Airport officials said although they could not ban anyone from entering the airport premises, they stopped allowing parking of vehicles, identified by cops as those belonging to touts, at the airport lot. But even that seems to have failed to deter the touts, who are now parking their cars outside the old domestic terminal near the bus stand.
While 111 people were prosecuted between Dec 25, 2023 and Jan 6, 2024, or over nine persons a day, the figure has since dipped to two a day between Jan 8 and Jan 20.This, coupled with the release of those who had been prosecuted and arrested earlier, has led to the comeback of the notorious taxi touts. “On Monday, a taxi tout approached me and demanded Rs 1,160 for a 5km ride to Dum Dum Shyamnagar from the airport. Since I am a local, I know the actual price and ignored him. But those coming from other cities can be easily fooled,” said Alok Banerjee, who arrived in Kolkata from Gurgaon.
Pradip Mitra, another flyer from Delhi, who, too, reached Kolkata and was looking for a taxi to reach his Baguiati home was also approached by multiple touts and had a difficult time brushing them off. “Their numbers had significantly reduced last month but this time, I thought there were more touts than the airport has ever seen. The cops must do something to oust them from the airport,” said Mitra.
TOI was at the airport on Monday and Tuesday and found touts and car drivers, other than app cab or Yatri Sathi drivers, walking up to passengers and tailing them around. The men were everywhere, be it outside Gate Nos. 1A/B, 2A/B or 4A/B, ganging up in numbers and targeting passengers as they came out of the airport. TOI also found some cops still trying their best to reach out to passengers and help them book Yatri Sathi cabs but they were outnumbered by the number of touts.
A senior officer at Bidhannagar City Police said they were trying their best to contain the touts but admitted that eradicating them was next to impossible without the active participation of airport officials. “We arrest touts but after a certain point, it is impossible to completely stop their entry to the airport unless the airport authorities ban them. That will empower us to identify the persons and prevent their entry,” said Aishwarya Sagar, deputy commissioner (airport division) of Bidhannagar City Police. “We are reinforcing our drive against touts.”
Airport officials said although they could not ban anyone from entering the airport premises, they stopped allowing parking of vehicles, identified by cops as those belonging to touts, at the airport lot. But even that seems to have failed to deter the touts, who are now parking their cars outside the old domestic terminal near the bus stand.