Do you need a trolley, sir? I will pull it for you.

This unexpected offer of help greets many fliers at the airport. Those who offer to help, however, often demand money after the chore and are behind valuables going missing.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received several complaints from fliers about harassment by trolley-pushers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

Recently, two passengers from Bangkok, who had flown in on Thai Airways, complained to the airport manager about the problem.

The contractor who operates the trolleys employs the trolley-pushers. Their job is to retrieve the trolleys from outside the terminal building, where the passengers leave them, said an AAI official.

But they crowd around the conveyor belt, along with Group D employees of AAI, each time a flight lands and offer to help fliers for a fee.

“These men are not authorised to push loaded trolleys. Passengers should do that on their own,” the official added. Invalid passengers and children are to be helped by the airline staff.

“In the melee after a flight lands, a section of trolley-pushers pick up mobile phones and other valuables of passengers. The thefts go up when two or more flights land within a short period,” said an officer of airport police station.

What aggravates the problem is that the few trolleys available are captured by the trolley-pushers. Officially, there are 2,100 trolleys in the two terminals but many of them are unusable because of lack of maintenance. Passengers are, thus, forced to lug their bags to the check-in counters.

The airlines, too, took up the issue with the authorities at the last meeting of the airport facilitation committee. “We spoke to the airport, security and the police authorities about unauthorised crowding at the arrival terminal. But no action has been taken,” said a member of the Airline Operators’ Committee.

“In other airports, especially those in the US and Europe, there are announcements that solicitation of any form is illegal. No such announcement is made in Calcutta,” he added.

Airport sources said there are more cases of harassment in the international terminal than in the domestic terminal.

Not all trolley-pushers are, however, bad. “There have been several instances when they have returned laptops and other valuables left on the trolleys by passengers,” said the AAI official.