Dum Dum: Calcutta airport has an unofficial class system that determines who must follow the rules and who can flout them - from parking in front of the terminal for hours to exclusive use of buggies meant for the elderly and disabled.
Entry of private vehicles into the airport is free for 10 minutes, but those flaunting "VIP" stickers are guaranteed unlimited time right in front of the terminal without anyone blowing the whistle on them.
At the arrival level, VIP-tagged vehicles parked in lanes of their choosing is a familiar inconvenience to those who would be penalised if they were to do likewise.
A typical transgression would involve a muscle car bearing a sticker or a plate announcing that it has been assigned to ferry a politician, a member of a parliamentary committee, a bureaucrat or an armed forces officer.
The wait for the VIP passenger is usually a long one. These cars sometimes occupy the lane leading to the terminal's arrival area all day, mocking the "No Parking" signage that glares at lesser mortals.
Police and the airport's own security personnel may look the other way when the offender is a VIP vehicle, but are unsparing of any other car that spends an extra minute for a passenger to arrive.
A resident of Ballygunge recounted how exceeding the time limit under unavoidable circumstances one day led to him being fined. "My son was unwell and I needed to wait longer than usual in front of the terminal, but the security personnel wouldn't let me. I told them that they could penalise me since I had little choice but to exceed the time a car is allowed to stay there. I was fined Rs 500," he said.
The normal parking fee of Rs 100 is applicable the moment a car overshoots the free 10 minutes. But "VIP" vehicles, irrespective of whether they are categorised as official, are exempt from the restriction.
"Government vehicles are exempt from paying any parking fee. This was a clause in the tender floated for the parking contract," airport director Atul Dixit said.
But does this mean they can be parked anywhere? "Government-owned and VIP vehicles are supposed to be parked in the designated areas of the parking lot," Dixit confirmed.
Few VIP vehicles enter the parking lot. They mostly occupy the entire first lane from in front of Gate 1A till Gate 3C and sometimes beyond. Passengers, including people in wheelchairs, are forced to wait in the middle of the other lanes with their luggage to get into their cars.
"If you need to use a trolley, it becomes even more difficult. So, you can imagine what it is like for a person in a wheelchair. VIP vehicles blocking the first lane are a perennial nuisance," said an airline official.
The airport lists 30 categories of VIPs, including the President, the Prime Minister, governors, ministers, Supreme Court and high court judges, MPs and MLAs. On most days, congestion is caused by vehicles belonging or assigned to people whose VIP status is debatable.
Several airlines have raised the inconvenience caused to their passengers during meetings of the airport advisory committee. "But nothing has changed," said Captain Sarvesh Gupta, chairman of the airline operators' committee.
But the chairman of the committee, Dum Dum MP Saugata Ray, said he couldn't recall being part of any such discussion. "Nobody has brought this to my notice. If cars are parked in front of the terminal building, they surely inconvenience passengers. There should be a designated parking place for VIP cars."
A senior officer in the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said that "whenever informed about VIP movement", cops deployed at the airport direct these vehicles to the designated parking areas.
