Parking Fee hiked by Rs 5-15 at Bhubaneswar Airport

In an arbitrary decision, the authorities at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, have hiked the parking fee by Rs 5 to Rs 15 for bikes, cars and medium and heavy vehicles. If that was not enough, the Airport authorities also reduced the halt time from 4 hours to 2 hours, creating huge disappointment among the common people.

Bhubaneswar Airport Director Sharad Kumar, who boasts of bringing revolutionary changes at the Airport, tried to put up a volt face, terming the fee hike as a routine affair. He also clarified that there have been an increase in parking fee at all Airports of the country and Bhubaneswar is no exception.

Earlier, the parking fee for motorcycles/bikes was Rs 10. Now, it has been increased to Rs 15. The small cars will have to pay Rs 55 instead of Rs 40, while Tempos, SUVs and Mini Buses will pay Rs 60 now. It was Rs 45 earlier. Parking fee for buses, trucks and luxurious vehicles have been increased to Rs 70 from the existing Rs 60.

As per the rules, any vehicle that spends more than five minutes at the Airport, will have to pay the parking fee. The only silver lining is that the authorities have relaxed the norm a bit by allowing the vehicles to exhaust their time at a point 50m away from the exit gate. Earlier, the five-minute halting period was being calculated between the entry and exit gates. In case of parking of the vehicles, only two hours will be allowed. Any vehicle exceeding the time duration, will have to pay a fresh fee.

In the recent months, the Biju Patnaik International Airport has been under scanner for gross violation of rules related to parking and reports of assault and molestation by parking staff, was also reported. The Airport authorities have now taken control of the operations and fresh tender will be invited soon.