Pune: Barely two months after autorickshaw drivers were barred from waiting outside the Pune airport terminal following complaints of passenger fleecing, unauthorised operators appear to be back, approaching arriving passengers and demanding exorbitant fares.In the early hours of Nov 5, army veteran and businessman Vineed Nedungadi (40) was approached by an autorickshaw driver outside the arrival area. Mistaking him for an outsider because he was dressed formally and carrying a briefcase, the driver offered to take him to Salunke Vihar Road for a staggering Rs1,200—for a journey of barely 10 km.“I asked him to reconsider the fare, after which he agreed to reduce it, but on the condition that it would be a shared ride. It was 2:30 am and I did not want to get into an argument. So, I took a shuttle bus to Aeromall and then headed to the cab pick-up point, where I hired a prepaid autorickshaw for Rs435. When I narrated the incident to the drivers there, they were shocked,” Nedungadi said.Airport authorities had barred autorickshaws from entering the terminal area in Sept following allegations of passenger exploitation raised by former MP Raju Shetti. However, regular flyers and authorised prepaid operators said unauthorised drivers have gradually returned, using different tactics to approach passengers and pose as legitimate service providers.A prepaid autorickshaw operator noted that their business has suffered because of these unauthorised drivers. “Things improved for about a month when authorities regularly asked these drivers to leave. However, even authorised operators are now being stopped from approaching the arrival area to inform passengers about the prepaid stand at Aeromall. Meanwhile, unauthorised drivers are back and continue to fleece people, particularly first-time visitors to Pune. We have repeatedly raised the issue with airport authorities, but nothing has changed,” he said, requesting anonymity.Sudhir Jadhav, a businessman and regular flyer who travelled to Delhi and back last week, said drivers are no longer crowding outside the arrival gate but continue to approach passengers as they walk towards Aeromall. “They keep moving around and approach passengers at different points. Some even claim to represent the prepaid service. Someone arriving in Pune for the first time and unfamiliar with the system can easily be misled. This happens mostly during the late evening hours. It is disappointing that these problems persist even after the new terminal building has been operational for so long,” he said.Y S Rajput, vice-president of Aeromall, confirmed that unauthorised operators have devised new ways to bypass security restrictions. “With CISF personnel closely monitoring the airport gates, these drivers have started using decoys. An autorickshaw driver enters the premises with another person posing as a passenger, drops him off, and leaves. The decoy then moves around, approaching and persuading arriving passengers to hire an autorickshaw. They resort to various misleading claims to convince flyers,” Rajput told TOI.While such operators are easier to identify during the day, Rajput said tracking them becomes difficult during evening hours when passenger and vehicular movement increases. He added that the practice continues despite repeated efforts to keep unauthorised operators away from the airport.
