‘Prepaid kaali-peelis dying a slow death at Mumbai airport’, claim unions

The unions said the lack of parking space for these black and yellow (kaali-peeli) cabs operating on prepaid fare systems from the domestic and international terminals of the Mumbai airport has led to a decline in their numbers by more than 40% over the last few years

Mumbai: Passengers arriving at terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Thursday faced inconvenience after the taxi unions and drivers protested outside the airport over several issues. One of the primary reasons for these taxi drivers, who ride prepaid cabs from the airport, is the reduction in parking spaces allotted to them. These prepaid taxis were started more than a decade ago with the intention of eliminating the problem of passengers being fleeced at Mumbai airport.

Taxi union and their drivers who operate prepaid taxis went on a dharna outside Mumbai airport on Thursday in Mumbai.

The unions said the lack of parking space for these black and yellow (kaali-peeli) cabs operating on prepaid fare systems from the domestic and international terminals of the Mumbai airport has led to a decline in their numbers by more than 40% over the last few years.

“Around 5-7 years ago, we had space to park 1,200 taxis at the international terminal and 800 cabs at the domestic terminal. It has drastically come down, and now drivers have to park their vehicles in an allotted space that can accommodate 250-300 taxis at the taxi waiting area and just outside the airport. Equal number of cabs are parked on the road,” said Guddu Singh, president, Airport Taxi Union. “This is also leading to increased waiting time for passengers as the prepaid kaali-peeli cabs have to come at the pick-up point from a distance”.

There are currently 800-850 prepaid kaali-peelis at the international terminal and 500-550 at the domestic terminal. The unions who were protesting have also demanded an increase in fares for the prepaid system. As per the approved rates now, the revised minimum fare of prepaid taxis for up to 6 km is ₹140 from the international terminal, while the minimum fare up to 4 km from the domestic terminal is ₹93. The prepaid taxi fare includes a 25% incentive up to 12 km and 20% up to 4 km

“We want the number of parking spaces and booking counters as it used to be before the Covid-19 pandemic. The booking counter meant for the prepaid black and yellow taxis has been handed over to the aggregator cab operators. We have also demanded implementing the aggregator cab guidelines made by the government-appointed panel, immediately,” said Prashant Sawardekar, member, of Maharashtra Taxi Rickshaw Cab Drivers Delivery Sanyukti Kruti Samiti, who was also present at the dharna. The unions said the government is slowly trying to kill the prepaid system of cabs just the way it has silently removed them from the railway stations.

On Thursday evening, the unions met officials from the transport commissioner’s office with their various demands. Sources in the transport department said they will look into resolving the issues soon including implementing the guidelines for cab aggregators.

When contacted, the spokesperson for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Ltd did not respond. Airport sources said the agitation was called off at 5.30pm and there was no impact on operations.

(With inputs from Satish Nandgaonkar)