Fleeced at Kolkata Airport

Airport nightmare: Rogues fleece fliers

Time: 3.50 pm. Location: Kolkata airport's domestic terminal. Relatives of arriving passengers waited anxiously outside the departure gate. A group of rough looking men hung around in the crowd, chatting loudly. All of them had key rings dangling from their fingers. A few minutes later, passengers from a SpiceJet flight from Guwahati start streaming out of the terminal pushing their baggage trolleys. In seconds, all hell breaks loose as the toughs swarmed the terminal porch.

One of them barked: "Kochi, start bargaining!" A lanky youth instantly accosted a passenger and grabbed his baggage trolley. Bending close to the startled passenger's ear, he shouted: "Do you need a cab?" The passenger refused and moved to the parking lot where he had a car waiting. Kochi caught the next passenger, and the next, and finally succeeded at the sixth attempt.

Grabbing a Sikh passenger's arm, he hustled him to the approach road. Within seconds, three other cronies surrounded the passenger. "Where will you go?" they asked. Trapped between the quartet, who looked like ruffians, the man turned pale. "Howrah." "Pay up Rs 450," came the demand. The passenger, realising it was way over the regular fair, feebly bargained.

Meanwhile, Kochi slipped away to corner another passenger. "Pappu, you look after him while I get another," he shouted and made off. He and two others managed to catch a couple who had landed on an Air India flight from Shillong. "We will go to Bhowanipore but won't pay more than Rs 150," said the smart lady passenger, taking the upper hand in the bargain before Kochi & Co could quote their rate.

One of the trio grabbed their baggage trolley and began walking. The couple thought they had struck a good deal when the shocker came. "Please pay only Rs 100 more," said Kochi. Infuriated, the lady passenger tried to wrest the baggage trolley back but he held on.

"Bappa, where do they want to go?" another crony joined in. An elderly person standing nearby watched the spectacle with mounting anger. "They are worse than the touts outside Eden Gardens," he grumbled.

Meanwhile a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai had arrived and Bappa found a prospective foreigner. His destination was Esplanade. Bappa quoted "only 1,000". The foreigner had obviously consulted a Lonely Planet guide and wasn't willing to pay more than Rs 500. Bappa continued to bargain. "Let's be reasonable. Pay Rs 650 and get going sir. But you will have to share the cab. Please wait," he rattled off without giving the passenger a chance to speak.
The foreigner meanwhile, kept a wary eye on the touts harassing the couple headed for Bhowanipore. Sensing that the men meant trouble, he grabbed his bag and walked off towards the air-conditioned luxury Volvo coach waiting. He forked out Rs 50 fare and boarded the bus.

Ruing the loss of a lucrative customer, Bappa remarked to others: "We must stop the Volvo buses from entering the airport."

All along, policemen and CISF jawans were present but turned a blind eye to the harassment. Confident that law would not interfere in their turf, Kochi, Pappu, Bappa and others got ready for the next set of flights to arrive.

The above has been posted just to warn people coming to Kolkata by Air.
Earlier, this used to happen only at Howrah station if your train arrived late at night.The police, the touts and the taxi driver connived to fleece you.
I was once a victim.
Now, I notice that the same has started occuring at the airport.
But then, what can you expect with 40 years of misrule of the left front.
And unfortunately don't expect things will improve after Mamta Banerjee comes to power.
The remedy is worse than the ailment.
Even God would not be able to save Bengal for God advises Karma (Work) to which we people of Bengal are allergic.