Nishar Mohammed & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Sept 16: Blatant overcharging by the parking contractor at Veer Savarkar International (VSI) Airport has once again come under the spotlight, with passengers alleging that they are being forced to pay rates far beyond the official charges approved by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
On September 15, Andaman Sheekha visited the airport to verify widespread complaints. During the visit, staff at the parking booth charged Rs. 70 for nearly 15 minutes of parking, a clear violation of the prescribed rates.
When Andaman Sheekha confronted the parking staff about the charges, they claimed that any parking below 30 minutes was charged at ₹70 — a statement that is blatantly false and in direct contradiction to the official AAI-approved rate chart.
More concerning, the payment slip was taken back at the exit gate, leaving passengers without any proof of the inflated charges. This specific incident can be verified from car number P-4949 by the Airport Authority of India.
When contacted, Mr. Devender Yadav the Airport Director of AAI in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands explained that parking charges are awarded through a tender process and are in line with rates at other airports across the country. According to the official chart, authorized cab operators such as WTI and Andaman & Nicobar Prepaid are charged Rs. 20 for up to 30 minutes and Rs. 35 for up to 2 hours, while tour operators are charged Rs. 48 for 30 minutes and Rs. 98 for up to 2 hours. He stressed that if passengers were indeed charged Rs. 70 for 15 minutes, it was not in accordance with the approved structure and would amount to malpractice.
Following this clarification, Andaman Sheekha has decided to escalate the matter with a written complaint to the AAI headquarters. Public outrage is growing, with repeated demands that parking rates be displayed prominently within the parking area and widely publicized in the media to protect passengers from further exploitation.
This is not the first time such malpractice has been reported. Earlier, Andaman Sheekha had exposed another case where passengers were being charged unauthorized “premium parking” fees. In a complaint filed on December 18, 2024, a traveller was wrongly charged premium rates for his Maruti Swift (2020 model). An RTI inquiry later confirmed that AAI has no provision distinguishing between premium and non-premium vehicles. The Airport Director’s investigation found the parking licensee guilty of overcharging and imposed a penalty of Rs. 10,000.
The recurrence of such incidents raises serious questions about enforcement and monitoring at VSI Airport, as passengers continue to demand transparency and accountability in parking operations.
