The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday demanded the withdrawal of user fee proposed to be introduced in the Thiruvananthapuram international terminal.
Party spokesman George Kurian told the media here that user fee was being collected in Delhi and Mumbai airports after spending around Rs.10,000 crore on build-operate-transfer basis. In Thiruvananthapuram, the total investment was only Rs. 285 crore of which the Airports Authority of India's contribution was Rs. 45 crore. So, there was no justification for collecting a fee on par with that in Delhi or Mumbai airports.
Mr. Kurian added that the fee would lead to less number of passengers using the airport.
Misra Commission report
The spokesman said that senior party leaders O. Rajagopal, C.K. Padmanabhan, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and P.K. Krishnadas and State president V. Muraleedharan would be leading the zonal marches being organised in the State in protest against Ranganatha Misra Commission recommendations at the end of this month. The BJP wanted rejection of the report and continuation of the reservation for Scheduled Castes in the present form.
