Fined for parking car, man complains to police

Amritsar, April 18

Irked over a penalty imposed for parking the car in ‘no-parking zone’ at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, a local resident filed a complaint with the airport authorities and the local police. Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) visited the office of the parking manager and investigated the matter.

Praveen Dhawan, a local resident, alleged that on April 13, he had visited the airport to pick up his relative. In the meantime, he stopped his car opposite the AAI residential colony to attend a phone call. Meanwhile, the parking staff came and locked the wheels of his car. They also imposed a fine of Rs 500 on Praveen Dhawan.

Dhawan claimed that there was no board about it being a ‘no-parking zone’. He paid Rs 500 as fine for parking his car in the area. He also alleged that the parking staff misbehaved with him. Dhawan shared a post on Facebook with other residents to raise his voice against the parking management at the airport. A number of residents shared their experience and claimed that the parking staff overcharged and misbehaved with them.

Parminder Singh, manager at the airport parking, said, “Officials of the Airports Authority of India have visited the parking lot to investigate the matter. We have shown them the CCTV footage of the complainant’s car. Due to security reasons, no one is allowed to park vehicles outside the AAI residential area and other spots in the airport complex. Except for the parking area, the entire airport complex is a no-parking zone. We took action as per rules.”

The parking manager refuted the allegations. “The allegations of Facebook users about charging for pick-and-drop are baseless. We don’t charge anyone who comes to pick or drop the airlines passengers in private vehicles. There is no time limit, if a person takes 20 minutes to load and unload the luggage, we don’t charge. But if someone is waiting for the arrival of a flight by parking the vehicle at the pick-up point, then we charge him,” said Parminder Singh.

Sameep Singh of FlyAmritsar Initiative said, “Despite many complaints, the parking staff continue to charge Rs 60 instead of Rs 55 for cars. It is only Rs 20 for the first 30 minutes but in many cases, they continue to charge Rs 60.”