BIAL defers overstay fees; minister wants them waived or reduced

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), has deferred the implementation of the new overstay charges until further notice. 

The new rules were set to be enforced from Monday onwards.

As per the rules, private vehicles will get eight minutes of free stay. They will be charged Rs 150 for 8-13 minutes and Rs 300 for 13-18 minutes. Vehicles staying beyond 18 minutes will be towed to the nearest police station, with fines added. Commercial vehicles must wait at designated parking zones, where they will get 10 minutes of complimentary parking. After that, cab drivers will have to pay Rs 150 for a half-an-hour slot.

A BIAL spokesperson said that the implementation of the new measures had been postponed with the intent “to wait for the recent disruptions in flight operations across the country to stabilise”. 

“The new measures, aimed at improving the landside experience, will be introduced as planned at the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 arrival kerbsides. The revised effective date for implementation will be communicated within the next day or so,” BIAL said. 

As per an airport source, the revised date is expected to be December 11-12, once flight operations stabilise. 

Drivers unclear about rules 

While both terminals have information boards displaying the new overstay charges, cab drivers on the ground remain wary about its implications. 

Several drivers at the airport remained unaware that they would no longer be allowed in the arrival pickup lane once the new rules set in. 

"We were under the impression that the overstay fines are for us — yellow-board vehicles. We didn’t know that we would directly be guided to the parking area, and no longer be allowed in the pick up lane,” said Rangaswamy, a 44-year-old driver. 

Another driver said: "If we’re confined to the parking zone, I’m unsure how we’ll be able to get customers. Now, we pick up customers when they walk out of the arrival gate. If we’re not allowed there, it will severely impact our business." 

The drivers are hopeful that the new rules will be junked, and have even approached Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and other local leaders for support. 

G Narayanaswamy, president of Karnataka Chalakara Okkuta, is planning a protest when the new rules are set in or the day after. "We will not let them bring in such unfair rules,” he told DH. 

New rules are unfair: Minister 

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has written to BIAL calling for the overstay fees to be withdrawn or significantly reduced. 

In the letter, he stated how the new norms would cause severe financial hardship for cab drivers, and also requested a dedicated grace period to accommodate passenger movement and unforeseen delays. 

"The new rules are unfair to private and yellow-board vehicles. The airport is a dynamic environment, have they accounted for how such rules might impact senior citizens or the differently abled? Instead, what they can do is deploy more people on the ground to ensure the traffic keeps moving uninterrupted," he told DH. 

Ramalinga Reddy