Team Herald
VASCO: The United Taximen Union (UTU), which is the parent union of taxi operators at Dabolim airport, has threatened to block vehicular traffic at the airport if the Airport Authority of India (AAI) fails to consider their suggestions and fulfill their demands for parking facilities by April 8.
According to UTU president Sudhakar Revankar, over 500 UTU members provide their services to passengers at the airport, and none of them are happy as the AAI had been turning a deaf ear towards their demand of providing alternate parking facilities.
“We understand that the AAI is unable to start a multi-level parking facility due to pending security clearance. We also understand that AAI is facing the brunt due to limited land with them on the city side of the airport. However, there are options that the AAI can implement to provide immediate relief to us,” Revankar said.
He continued, “Firstly, the AAI has a piece of muddy land opposite the Arrival 2 gate. We demand that AAI allow us to park our vehicles on this land. We can easily park about 60 cars there. Similarly, around 500 two-wheelers use the internal roads of the old terminal building for parking. We demand that AAI shift these two-wheelers near the departure gates of the old terminal building and allow the UTU members to use the area presently used by the two-wheelers.”
“Last time, we had given an ultimatum with the threat that we would stop our operations if the parking issues were not resolved. This time, we have decided that, if our demands are not fulfilled before Gudi Padva, which is on April 8, we will be compelled to take harsh steps, which might even include blocking vehicular traffic to and from Dabolim airport,” said Revankar.
He also demanded that AAI scrap its system of issuing an eight-day pass to UTU members to gain entry into the airport building for carrying out operations at taxi counter.
“After every eight days, we have to stand before them to obtain an entry pass for going to the airport taxi counter. We demand that AAI revoke its system and give yearly passes so that our members will not face such regular harassment,” said Revankar.
