32k domestic passengers flew out of city on Mon
Times of India | 16 October 2024TOI on Tuesday reported that this Durga Puja was the busiest for Kolkata airport, with nearly 4 lakh flyers transiting between Panchami and Dashami, surpassing the previous high that was recorded during the six Puja days in 2019.
“This has been the busiest period and the rush of outbound passengers increased on Monday after the festival ended. We had to cancel leaves and deploy additional manpower and CISF personnel at entrances, security checks and boarding gates to ensure the passengers had a smooth transit,” said Pravat Ranjan Beuria, the airport director.
On Monday, 31,653 passengers flew out of the airport on domestic flights. There were another 3,283 who left India on international flights from Kolkata. “I had come to Kolkata to attend Durga Puja with my family and friends and had a great time. I had taken an additional day’s leave on Monday as I took a flight out of the city and returned to Bangalore. I was back in the office on Tuesday,” said Amrita Roy, whose parents stay at Sakherbazar in Behala.
Anticipating the rush of outbound passengers, the airport authorities had upgraded and added new seats at the airport, increased the number of charging points, upgraded three sets of toilets and deployed additional men to increase the frequency of cleaning the existing toilets. However, there were still grievances from a section of passengers who had complained of dirty toilets and long queues at several points.
