| Fliers stranded with tales of woe | ||
| A STAFF REPORTER | ||
Y.K. Grace was watching TV in her Sudder Street hotel room on Monday afternoon when she learnt about Tuesday’s bandh. The 25-year-old from Manipur immediately alerted three of her friends who had accompanied her to the city and all four started packing their bags. “We shifted to a lodge close to the airport so that we faced no hassle in catching our flight to Guwahati on Tuesday morning,” said Grace. But the tourists were wrong to assume that staying closer to the airport would help them beat the bandh. “We learnt on reaching the airport in the morning that our flight had been cancelled. There is no option but to take the evening flight which leaves at 6.45pm,” said a harassed Grace, sitting outside the airport with her friends. The airport on Tuesday was teeming with people like Grace who left home early for the airport only to learn that their flights would not take off. To add to their inconvenience, the only toilet outside the terminals, run by contractors, was put under lock and key by bandh supporters. Airport officials said 41 flights, including some international ones, had been cancelled during the day. “I was shocked to learn that my flight was cancelled. Where do I go now?” asked an angry V.K. Prasad, a trader from Ranchi who had to pay Rs 500 to a cabbie to reach the airport from his guesthouse on Free School Street. On any other day, the fare ranges between Rs 200 and Rs 250. Air India was the only airline that operated during the bandh. Altogether 24 flights of the airline took off from or landed at the city airport. “Air India has been revalidating tickets without any applicable penalty on a future date for those passengers who might not have been able to report on time,” said a spokesperson for the airline. Quite a few who landed at the airport while the bandh was on were at sea as there was virtually no transport to ferry them to their destinations. The prepaid taxi booth was closed and the Volvo service from national and international terminals, too, was suspended. “It’s on the flight that we came to know about the bandh. The few cars and ambulances that were there asked for Rs 1,000 to take us to the city,” said Pitambar Agarwal, who arrived in Calcutta from Delhi with his family to meet his relatives. | ||
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We pause, we fret, we play
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