E-charging station meet fails to find solution to stalemate
Times of India | 20 January 2024
Kolkata: The airport authorities have told the state transport department that they wouldn’t restore electricity to the currently shut electric bus charging unit at the airport unless they pay the dues that the department hasn’t paid since the beginning of the service.
Sources said the airport spends close to Rs 1 lakh per month to foot the electricity bill of the charging unit.
The decision was taken at a late-night meeting at the airport between the bus operators and the airport authorities on Thursday that ended without solving the impasse.
“We have told them that unless the dues are paid, electricity cannot be restored. We promote green energy at the airport and encourage them in plying electric buses on the airport premises but if they are not paying the dues, they have to charge their vehicles somewhere else,” said a senior airport official.
The airport authorities recently sent a bill of Rs 95 lakhs as dues for a number of facilities the transport department had been using at the airport for years. This led to a dispute and the airport officials snapped the electric connection to the charging station and blocked other facilities when the transport department didn’t pay up.
“The charging point was inaugurated in March 2020 and has been in use since the later half of the year when services resumed post pandemic. The usage was limited in 2020 and 2021 but in the last two years, there has been rampant use of the unit and every month, an electricity bill of around Rs 1 lakh was generated just from the unit outside the old domestic terminal. That itself amounts to close to Rs 30 lakh, which was recently highlighted in an audit by AAI, following which the money was sought from the state government,” said a source.
Eight electric buses to the airport from Tollygunge (Route V1), three from Howrah station (Route AC 39), three from Garia (Route AC 37A), two from Golf Green (Route AC 43 ) and two night specials from Tollygunge and Esplanade operated till Monday.
An officer in the state transport department said they were raising the issue in the higher level and added more meetings may follow in coming weeks to solve the stalemate.