Police and the Kolkata airport authorities on Wednesday started an attempt to force all taxis and other commercial vehicles into their designated lane in front of the arrival area of the terminal building.
The police have put up signage at the entry to the arrival level in front of the booths where the parking and time stamp slips are handed out to vehicles headed towards the arrival and departure levels of the airport.
More signage was placed at the approach to the taxi and app cab bay and several policemen were seen directing such vehicles towards the bay on Wednesday afternoon.
Metro has been publishing reports on what ails the airport and the chaos in the lanes in front of the terminal building on the arrival level.
Commercial vehicles and buses are allowed into the lanes where private vehicles are supposed to stop to pick up passengers. So-called VIP vehicles remaining parked along the kerb for long durations is another perennial problem fliers have to vie with.
On Wednesday, all commercial vehicles, especially app cabs, were being directed to the extreme right lane earmarked as taxi bay and app cab pick-up and drop-off point.
However, during rush hours, some of the commercial vehicles were allowed into other lanes, too, said airport officials.
Also, a section of commercial vehicles chose to ignore the directions and drove into other lanes.
“The taxi bay was already there but the drivers of many app cabs and taxis chose to ignore it and would pick up passengers from in front of the terminal building. This practice leads to snarls and we have started ensuring that commercial vehicles stick to their bay,” an officer in the Bidhannagar commissionerate’s airport zone said.
An airport official said the chaos in front of the terminal will gradually reduce if the authorities persist with the drive.
On Wednesday afternoon, when several flights touched down at the airport within a short time, traffic snarls were caused as many vehicles stood in the middle of the road in front of the terminal on the arrival level.
In front of gate numbers 1, 2 and 3, passengers had a trying time boarding the cabs and their own vehicles as several VIP vehicles continued to remain parked in rows on the kerbside right in front of the terminal.
However, some VIP vehicles were seen in the VIP parking zone. Earlier, the bay would remain empty almost throughout the day.
