Bengaluru: Visitors to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will have to start paying parking fee from Tuesday, November 29 as the waiver, in effect from November 14, came to an end on Monday night.
The parking charges return at a time when people are struggling to get their hands on notes of smaller denomination, like Rs 100 and Rs 500. While the Airports Authority of India has put in place e-payment systems at all airports under its control, KIA, being a private airfield, does not have the facility yet.
It is expected to lead to a lot of confusion as the parking rates range from Rs. 20 for two-wheelers to Rs. 100 for cars and Rs. 200 for busses with an increase of Rs. 20 and Rs. 50 based on the total time parked.
“The effect of demonetisation has been to bring the tourist and taxi industry to a standstill. We don’t hold surplus cash to pay for parking transactions. We request that they extend the waiver for another 15 days,” said K Radhakrishna Holla, president, Bangalore Tourist Taxi Owners’ Association.
But this is highly unlikely due to misuse of the parking fee waiver in the past few days. The official BIAL Twitter handle even issued a request asking citizens not to park beyond 24 hours and not to misuse the service.
