Dum Dum: A phone call from a Trinamul leader allegedly nixed a recent attempt by the airport authorities to rein in contract workers who have turned the integrated terminal into their fief.

A senior airport official said the "intervention" happened after a female member of the housekeeping staff assigned to washrooms in the domestic departure area had been penalised "for being drunk at work".

She and her husband, also an airport worker, are affiliated to the Trinamul union for contract staff.

"She had been creating problems and we asked the contractor to deduct a day's wage from her salary. But a Trinamul leader called and told us that it was wrong to do so because she had at least reported for duty," a senior official said.

The Trinamul leader suggested that the worker be let off with a warning.

This is not the first time that a Trinamul-led workers' union has pulled strings to protect those who have turned the airport into a tout's paradise and a passengers' nightmare.

Metro had reported on Tuesday how trolley retrievers-turned-touts lie in wait inside the terminal to prey on arriving passengers, especially in the international section. Outside the terminal, taxi drivers try to fleece passengers in the absence of strict police supervision at night.

Airport officials said their hands were tied but Trinamul MP Saugata Roy, who is the chairman of the Calcutta Airport Advisory Committee, denied that there was any pressure on them to go easy on errant workers.

"I have asked the airport authorities to take action against errant employees. They should be identified and taken to task. No political colour should be considered while taking action against indiscipline," he told Metro on Tuesday.

Some of Roy's party colleagues have for years prevented any such crackdown despite their professed hands-off policy, airport officials said.

Airport director Atul Dixitidentified the touts in a picture contributed by a Metro reader and published on Tuesday as trolley retrievers.

"They have been hired by the private contractor to retrieve trolleys from various parts of the terminal at fixed intervals and stack those in the designated places. They have no business approaching passengers to make money," Dixit said. "We have warned the contractor and asked him to take action."

One of the contractors handling airport amenities said penalising a worker would immediately invite the union's wrath. He said the contractor whose employee was allegedly drunk at work was told by a union leader not to penalise the offender.