Agartala, Nov 20, 2023, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala, Nov 20: Transport minister Sushanta Chowdhury on Monday wrote a letter to Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia seeking waiver of levy imposed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on prepaid auto-rickshaws at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport, Agartala.

Chowdhury informed the union minister that the State Government, considering the greater interest of auto rickshaws, completely waived off the levy of the Transport Department (Rs.1O).

He also mentioned, “….it has been reported to us that the rates of availing auto rickshaw per day by passengers is very low which is only about 20-30 passengers. Similarly, I am requesting you to waive off the service charge @Rs.3O/- levied by AAI on Prepaid Auto rickshaw.”

As mentioned in the letter, the Transport Department is going to start prepaid Taxi (4-wheeler) services from MBB Airport very shortly and at that time the AAI Authority may levy service charge @Rs.3O per taxi. But charging service charge Rs.30 from prepaid Auto services is not justifiable and burdensome for the common citizens.

According to Chowdhury, he is hopeful that the Union Minister would pass necessary instructions to the concerned authority for completely waiving-off the service charges levied to prepaid auto rickshaws at the earliest.

Many of the auto-rickshaw drivers welcomed the initiative taken by the Transport minister.