After Madurai MP’s ‘◣’ post, airport officials remove parking staff for overcharging

In response to Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan’s post on ‘◣’ (formerly Twitter) about a video showing a Madurai airport vehicle parking worker demanding more money than the applicable charge from a car driver, the Director of Madurai Airport has replied to him that necessary action was taken against the staff who was found to be demanding the exorbitant charge.

Taking cognisance of a video which went viral on social media in the last few days, Mr. Venkatesan wrote on his ◣ handle on Tuesday: “This video proves overcharging in Madurai airport parking which I raised during the recent Airport Advisory Commitee meeting.”

Further, he demanded the Airport Director to take note of the issue and take necessary action against the parking staff and the contractor. The video was shot by a taxi driver who was demanded by the staff to pay ₹60 (amount charged for 30 minutes). The driver in the video itself asks the staff to recheck the entry and exit time of the vehicle as he had stayed on the premises for only 20 minutes. The staff reiterated the same amount again but noticing video being taken, he changed from what he asked before, asked the driver to pay ₹20.

The video went viral after the taxi driver posted it on social media platforms.

Responding to the post of Mr. Venkatesan, Airport Director P. Muthu Kumar, through a mail, replied that on the direction given by him to the Senior Manager Commercial on Monday to check both the contractor and the parking staff, it was proved that extra money was demanded by the staff.

“As the contractor clarified that additional charge was demanded by the staff due to a misunderstanding, the staff concerned was removed from the site,” he noted. He said the contractor was directed to sensitise workers to prevent occurrence of such issues in the future.