026. User's Fee or Non-User's??

STOP PRESS (08/AUG/2010):
The results of this contest are published.  Eventhough this post is ranked 5th (by voting),  it was mentioned by the review jury and commented as "stroked the right points and were perfect with their views"
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Preface :

Participating Entry for WeBlog - Sleepy Sunday! - Contest 1

Contest Conditions (quote from WeBlog website):

Select ANY ONE topic for which you want to submit an entry:

1. Life/Love/Relationship/Personal.

2. Sarcastic/Humor/Weird.

3. Social cause/Movie or Book Review.

•Publish your post ONLY ON Sunday 25th July 2010 by 11:59 midnight on your blog and leave a comment here with your blog post’s link and the category you posted on. Since we have majority bloggers coming from India, Indian Standard Time is to be considered.

PS: You have to write a fresh post on Sunday 25th July, old post will NOT be considered as entries.

This Blogpost Information :

Title : User's Fee or Non-User's??

Category : 3 - Social Cause

Date of Posting : Sunday, 25th July, 2010

USER'S FEE OR NON-USER'S ??

Breaking News …. “Trivandrum airport to charge user-fee on foreign fliers”

Flash News …. “Trivandrum airport to collect users fee on international passengers”

Welfare move & Associations react ... “NRI body slams move to charge User Fee at Trivandrum airport”

The truth as on date …. “The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has permitted an ad-hoc user development fee (UDF) of Indian Rupees 755 + Taxes (approx. Rs. 830) on every international passenger flying out of the Trivandrum International Airport for a period of 10 years”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When I write this : I understand there are a few Airports in India collecting User’s Fee from the outbound passengers, but I am not sure, whether this User’s Fee in subject would be implemented at Trivandrum International Airport, considering the protests and appeals that are being made against the same.

Personally, I hope that Government of India, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in particular, would accord adequate importance to the pleas put forward by relevant authorities and forego the establishment of User’s Fee, that would bring smiles to people working and living miles away from our motherland.

I post this from a Gulf perspective, due to my status as a Gulf expatriate for some years.  Majority of the international passengers departing from the three International Airports in Kerala (Trivandrum/Cochin/Calicut) are Gulf bound, barring a few flying to Singapore/Malaysia and US/UK/Canada etc. transiting through other Indian airports. From statistics, a big chunk of the Gulf bound passengers belong to the lower-employment-class and for them this amount of Rs. 830 is a burden and perhaps, an unplanned one, though it is a one off payment.

(Note : I am a true Indian, but I talk of Kerala here in this blog, because the subject matter is related to establishment of User's Fee in Trivandrum International Airport.)

Being in Bahrain, I was fortunate enough to witness the happiness that was writ large on the face of passengers, especially the lower/middle class category within the expatriate community living in Bahrain, when the Airport Tax of Bahraini Dinars 3.000 (Three) was lifted some years back. As a matter of fact, under any Foreign Currency Exchange calculations or circumstances, this BD 3.000 had not exceeded Rs. 400 (Indian Rupees Four Hundred Only) – while we are now discussing about a money value twice this amount!!

Some questions : A word of caution, as a disclaimer! These questions that are being pondered herein are purely mine and hence, very personal.

1. Quoting Airports Authority of India website, if one of the functions of AAI is to construct, modify and manage passenger terminals, then why should they squeeze money from the passengers ?

2. Why this is User’s Fee saga applicable only to International passengers?

3. Will there be any privileged or additional services available at the User’s-Fee-Paid airports for International passengers? One probable response I could get may be, “this new terminal is only meant for international passengers!”. Just a guess, am not so sure, though.

4. Are domestic passengers so incapable to pay the User’s Fee, if they are using the services? In case the domestic passengers are also included, then we might be able to have the duration reduced from 10 years to five or six years.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What we might see soon - back to the future : Chandran was getting prepared to proceed on his vacation to Kerala (in India) after an extraordinary gap of four years. Being one among the less-fortuned so-called-labour-class-community and due to lack of sufficient financial backup or security, he was not providential enough to avail his annual leave two years before, which was a right to him as a part of his employment contract. He had been suppressing his desire of seeing his old aged parents, loving wife and two little children for a long time.

Thanks to his supervisor’s out-of-turn help (which is a rare commodity in the Gulf), Chandran could get his annual leave sanctioned without much of a fuss. Along with return air tickets, he was also given some salary advance, just enough to clear off his erstwhile debts. Chandran, after doing some shopping – a bare minimum due to his fund constraints, was so very excited to see his family, like any other ‘forced-bachelor-expatriate’ living in the Gulf.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two months of vacation went past him in the blink of an eye. But, he enjoyed quality time with his family, especially, the two little kids. Like any expatriate leaving his family back home, parting was painful to Chandran too.

Having spent an exorbitant or exploited amount for the taxi to reach the Airport, an amount of Rs. 830 was much over his budget and hence caught him off guard when he was asked to pay the User’s Fee before checking in his baggage! He searched all his available pockets, but could not consolidate the requisite amount. He remembered giving the last couple of Indian Rupee notes that he had, to his son for having a cake for his next birthday! Neither the only available torn out Rupee notes nor his sparse Bahraini Dinar currency could help him to pass the User’s Fee gate.

Helpless and embarrassed, he stood there for a while in search of a familiar face. None of his prospect co-passengers, including some suit-clad gentlemen who were also bound to travel with him in the same flight on a domestic hop were of any help. Those domestic passengers were saved from the plight of paying User’s fee, just because they were on a domestic sector. His pleas to the Airport Staff were categorically rejected! A few co-passengers were willing to help him, but they refrained from it when they realised their uncertainty in return of this amount.  Because, Chandran neither had any Credit Card nor any Business Card.  He literally begged for  help with many, after he was warned of the closing of the check-in counter for his flight, which was to Bahrain via Mumbai.

Subsequently, Chandran lost all his hopes of travelling back to Bahrain as he could not surpass the ‘strong’ User’s Fee Gate.  Also, he feared of losing his job if not reported back to duty on time. Thankfully, like a savior, a good Samaritan turned up to help him, unconditionally. In no time, the payment was made and his baggage were checked in too. He was also destined to go through a quibbling exercise from the airport staff for making them rush at the last minute as the flight was getting ready to depart!

For Chandran, logically, the User’s Fee was a sheer waste as he did not get any opportunity to ‘use’ any part of the airport at all!!

Post security checks, he got into the aircraft through the door at the front. While passing the business class segment, in search of his economy seat somewhere at the rear of the aircraft, Chandran saw the suit-clad gentlemen who were capable of helping him (and were not asked to pay any User’s Fee) keying in on their laptops! Ironically, these people might be “using” the airport twice or thrice a month, without paying any User’s Fee, just because they are domestic passengers!!

Going past these business class, towards the economy class through the aisle, he could see his “fellow expatriate-citizens” including Thomas, Kunjalikutty, Basheer, Rahim, Nair, Subhash, George etc. with the stamped receipt of Users’ Fee – a fee they were asked to pay for not using the airport even at least once in two years !!

Post script : When would my above questions be answered; and, by whom? There are many Chandrans living in the Gulf with stringent living conditions. They save money for their family by drinking raw water and having food only once a day. And, under the extreme climatic conditions, many are not even fortunate to work under the shade, let alone Air Conditioners – as they come for working in construction sites. On every first Friday of the month, these Chandrans queue up before the money transfer companies to send their earnings back home and hence, I feel that these Chandrans are invariably a part of the Indian Foreign Exchange / Exchequer. Unfortunately, they are looked down by our own authorities without giving due preference or respect.

I Pledge :  India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.  I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.  I shall always strive to be worthy of it.  I shall give respect to my parents, teachers and all elders and treat everyone with courtesy.  To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.  In their well being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

Jai Hind!

Renjith P Sarada

(C) Renjith P Sarada 2010.  All Rights Reserved.