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Grab your coupon and go to the taxi bay. Uniformed personnel will assign a cab and hail it for you. Help is at hand if the bag is threatening to topple over from the trolley. Three minutes from the counter to the cab. And yes, there is a helpline for assistance till you’re home.
This is the same old Calcutta airport, only taking a taxi has, suddenly, ceased to be a torment.
Police from the new Bidhannagar commissionerate have stepped in and imposed order where chaos had been allowed to reign so long.
Metro has been campaigning for months to highlight the plight of passengers at the mercy of taxi goons and touts. On Wednesday, commuters like Sushmita Mullick were pleasantly surprised. “I was bracing for a long wait but then these policemen stepped up one by one and here I am inside a taxi in three minutes. Unbelievable!”
As Sushmita breezed away, Metro looked up all that had made it “unbelievable!”
Inside story
Now: Two green police volunteers deployed outside the pre-paid cab counter in the domestic terminal to check the passenger’s destination and inform him about the fare.
Result: The passengers keep the cash ready and the queue moves faster.
Now: The pre-paid taxi receipt only bears a serial number instead of the taxi registration number. The task of allotting and finding the vehicle is left to another set of volunteers at the taxi bay outside.
Result: No hunting around the parking lot for the missing taxi, trying to match the number on the receipt with the number plates. “Still only one window, but the process is faster,” said Irsad Khanikar, who flies frequently to Calcutta from Guwahati.
Now: While issuing the receipt, the passenger is given the number of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport police station — 25114001 — where a complaint can be lodged about a problem during the ride.
Result: The passenger feels safe.
Counter to kiosk
Now: Passengers are guided to a kiosk across the road manned by green police volunteers and an officer of the airport police station.
Result: No touts whispering “Dada, kothay”.
Now: A volunteer at the kiosk jots down the taxi registration number on the pre-paid ticket. The first cab in the queue must take the passenger, no matter what the destination. Refusal leads to “immediate prosecution”.
Result: No chance of cabbie refusal or asking for the extra 100 or two. “So often the drivers would tell me my taxi had already left. I had to pay through my nose to hire another,” said Sushmita, who works in Pune.
Kiosk to cab
Now: Once the cab is assigned, a cop guides the passengers to it. On Tuesday, a cop was even seen helping passengers manage their bags and put them into the taxi.
Result: Unbelievable!
Traffic turnaround
Now: Trained police volunteers and airport staff are constantly driving away vehicles parked outside the airport to unclog the entrance-exit.
Result: Wow!
Entry ticket
Now: At the mouth of the road leading to the terminal, volunteers are distributing tickets with the entry time digitally punched in a hand-held device. If a car hangs around for over 10 minutes without a parking ticket — available for Rs 60 — personnel at the other end of the road will fine the driver Rs 250. A cop accompanies the volunteers at the exit to ensure speedy prosecution.
Result: The road is not perpetually chock-a-block.
Caution
How long will the police stand up to the pressure from taxi unions and touts? “It is our resolve to keep up the good work,” said Bidhannagar police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.
Metro will be watching.
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