Bengaluru: Visitors to Kempegowda International Airport will have to start paying the parking fee from Tuesday as the waiver, in effect from November 14, came to an end on Monday night. Make sure you carry cash as e-payment facilities are not in place.
The parking charges will 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.
This 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 buses 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 of the 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.
