Trouble began a day after the MIAL began collecting a toll from every vehicle making a trip to the airport’s cargo terminal.
Cargo operators have dubbed the toll being charged by the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to use the road leading to the cargo terminal at the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) “arbitrary and extortionate”.
The Express Industry Council of India (EICI), the Air Cargo Agents Association of India, the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (shipping and aviation committee), the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture, the Western India Shippers Association, the Manufacturers Association on Information Technology, the Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India and the Bombay Custom House Agents’ Association (BCHAA) are now protesting against this toll.
The friction between the MIAL and cargo operators began after a toll began to be levied on every trip made to the airport’s cargo terminal on February 9. “There was no intimation of any kind. After our protests and repeated correspondence with the MIAL, it put out a note a fortnight later saying the toll was mandatory for all vehicles,” complained Vijay Kumar, EICI’s chief operating officer, who added, “Around 700-800 vehicles ply on this road daily. In fact, most make several sorties. From a toll of Rs50 to Rs200, depending on the vehicle, the MIAL makes more than Rs1crore every day. And, it is not even a sovereign or constitutional body empowered to collect such a toll.”
Kumar has written to aviation minister Ajit Singh and Union aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi on the issue. “We will fight this tooth and nail and we’re looking at approaching all possible fora to seek justice,” he added.
MIAL authorities denied there was any wrong-doing. “There was a toll of Rs70 in place till about a-year-and-a-half ago for vehicles which arrived at the cargo terminal. This discontinued toll has been reinstated and that too at a lower rate than before,” said an official, who added, “The Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi and Devanahalli at Bengaluru charge Rs70 for every four hours.”
Kumar counters by saying that other airports levy toll on only those vehicles which use the cargo terminal to park and not on ones plying the road.
“By that logic, will the MIAL start asking vehicles which simply come to drop or pick people up to pay parking charges just because they use the road outside the airport to come and go?”
Charges fly thick & fast
Trouble began a day after the MIAL began collecting a toll from every vehicle making a trip to the airport’s cargo terminal. Operators say they were not intimated
As per Express Industry Council of India CEO Vijay Kumar, the MIAL makes over Rs1 crore daily after collecting a levy of Rs50-200 from the nearly 700-800 vehicles plying the road.
MIAL authorities recalled that a Rs70 toll in place till about a-year-and-a-half ago. A similar toll is levied at Delhi, Bengaluru airports, it said.
Kumar countered it, saying that other airports levy toll on only those vehicles which use the cargo terminal to park and not on ones plying the road.
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