Police crack the whip, start picking up taxi touts to sanitize airport terminals

KOLKATA: Bidhannagar Police has initiated a drive against taxi touts by nabbing several men over the past few days to sanitize airport terminals on the onset of the festive rush.


Cops are being divided into separate groups and are posted in plainclothes at the pre-paid taxi kiosks, and outside the exit gates of the passenger arrival section, posing as passengers. The moment they find taxi touts approaching them or other passengers, they are being nabbed immediately.

On December 15, TOI had reported on the comback of taxi touts at the airport.

“We are aware of the problem and have started a drive against the touts and we will continue the procedure over the next few days. We have formed a specific team to keep an eye on the men who keep coming back to the airport to extort flyers,” said a senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.

On earlier occasions, cops at the airport had booked touts under stricter sections 385 (attempting to extort money) and 268 (public annoyance). Cops said they had started a similar drive again and have brought back some of the officers who were earlier involved with the sanitization process.

According to sources, the airport has around 60-odd regular touts who have their areas earmarked at different arrival and exit gates and the parking lot. “While one group gets hold of unsuspecting passengers that exit through 1A/1B and 2A/2B, another picks up passengers from gate 3A/3B while a third group targets the most lucrative international exit gates 4A/4B and 5A/5B.” a source said.

All the touts are adept at profiling passengers and mostly target first timers to the city in the domestic and foreigners in the international section. “But during the holiday season, when thousands of NRIs and city residents living abroad come back after a long gap, there is no short of preys. Many of them are unaware of the appcab fleet and pre-paid taxi services available at the airport,” said the source.

“Touts are a menace and malign the city’s image. We have asked the cops several times to find a permanent solution but it has not happened over the past several years,” said a senior airport official.

Cops, however, blamed the airport authorities and the agency manning the parking of vehicles for the return of touts. “If the parking agency doesn’t allow them to park their vehicles in the terminal, the touts will disappear by themselves,” said an officer of the airport division.

Times View

The crackdown will come as a relief to thousands of passengers. But the pressure on touts must be kept up and the drive should be sustained for at least a few weeks to ensure that they do not return.