Calcutta airport has put the onus of providing wheelchairs to passengers entirely on airlines, shirking responsibility yet again for the lack of centralised assistance in a terminal that professes to be flier-friendly.

'All airlines are requested to keep at least two wheelchairs (on) standby at entry gates only during the operational period of their flights,' Vikram Singh, deputy general manager of operations-terminal management, wrote in an email to airline operators.

The trigger for the communication was apparently a report in Metro highlighting the plight of passengers with hindered mobility at the city airport. 'Such instances bring a bad name to airlines and NSCBI Airport,' Singh said in his email.

The airport authorities also held a meeting with airline officials, who were told that they were 'duty-bound' to provide wheelchair assistance to passengers on demand.

'Airlines have been told it is their responsibility to provide wheelchairs to the passengers. They have to ensure passengers get them,' airport director B.P. Sharma told Metro.

But officials of various airlines said the first step towards solving the problem was in designating an easily accessible area within the integrated terminal where a passenger needing a wheelchair would find one.

'In the integrated terminal, everything is spread out. We had raised the issue even before all operations were shifted to the new facility in March 2013 but the problem persists,' said Captain Sarvesh Gupta, chairman of the Airline Operators' Committee at Calcutta airport.

Most airlines have started keeping wheelchairs at the gates but that hasn't helped. 'We have kept wheelchairs at gate numbers 3A and 3B. But we can't do anything if a passenger enters through any of the other gates,' an official of a private airline said.

Shortage of manpower to provide assistance is another problem, as is the lack of space to keep more than a couple of wheelchairs at the gates. 'If we keep wheelchairs outside a gate where passengers can easily see them, someone might take them away. We can't afford to keep more than a couple of wheelchairs at the gate either because that would hinder entry,' the airline official said.

The three 'wheelchair counters' at gates 2A-2B, 3A-3B and 5A-5B display the contact numbers of all airlines along with an intercom phone each. But there isn't even a chair for a passenger to sit and wait for a wheelchair to be brought.

The signage too is so inconspicuous that most passengers wouldn't notice it. Sreela Das Gupta, who took an IndiGo flight to Nagpur on Monday evening, said little had changed since her previous visit to the terminal two months ago.

'It's almost impossible to spot the small signage directing you to a wheelchair counter, especially after dark. There is also no place for a passenger to sit till such time an airline provides a wheelchair,' Sreela pointed out.

Airport officials said they were planning to start a meet-and-assist service that would include wheelchair assistance till the check-in counters. But like most things at the airport, it's still only a plan.

'All modern airports have dedicated zones for passengers needing wheelchairs. It's a pity that we have none here,' an airline official said.