Overstaying vehicles at Pune airport to be fined

PUNE: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to impose a fine of Rs 340 on vehicles entering Pune airport premises to pick up passengers and taking more than three minutes. 

The rule will be applicable to both commercial and private vehicles. Moreover, commercial vehicles will have to pay Rs 50 when they enter the airport lane to pick up passengers. The new rules will be applicable from March 5, officials said.

“It has also decided to shift out the booths for prepaid auto, commercial taxi and app-based taxi aggregators to Parking No.II to decongest the pick-up and drop areas in front of the terminal building. The move will reduce the total parking space available, as now only Parking No.1 will be available for visitors to park their vehicles,” said Ajay Kumar, Director, Pune airport.

“We have introduced a half hour slot, which will enable people who park their vehicles for less than 30 minutes to pay less,” he said.

“Until now, the shortest slot was of 2 hours and vehicle owners had to pay Rs 20 for two-wheelers, Rs 85 for cars and Rs 100 for buses for this slot. With the new slot, parking charges for less than 30 minutes will be Rs 10 for two-wheelers, Rs 30 for cars and Rs 40 for buses,” said Kumar. 

All commercial vehicles (those with yellow number plate) will be required to pay Rs 50 as entry fee when they enter to pick up passengers. This will not apply to private vehicles as well as commercial vehicles that enter the premise to drop passengers. The new rule also requires all vehicles - commercial or otherwise, to leave the pick-up and drop lane within 3 minutes, failing which a penalty of Rs 340 may be imposed on them.

“An access fee of Rs 50 will be levied on all commercial vehicles entering the arrival area for pick-up. A dwell time of 3 minutes - the time taken to pick up passengers and load the luggage is permissible for pick-up for all vehicles. Vehicles overstaying in the pick-up lane beyond the dwell time of 3 minutes are liable to pay a penalty of Rs 340,” Kumar said. 

“The same penalty amount will be imposed on vehicles that do not follow the parking rules by stopping in non-designated parking places, creating congestion,” he added.

Parking No.II will be used as staging area for prepaid auto, prepaid taxi, Ola and Uber and will not be available for parking of the other vehicles. “From March 5, only designated parking will be allowed at Parking No.1 and all vehicles exiting from the airport should exit from the newly-constructed road from behind Parking No.2, which connects the airport with Symbiosis Road,” Kumar said.