User fee at Kochi airport sparks anger

Dubai: Indian expatriates in the Gulf have expressed fears that the user's fee at Kochi International Airport may be re-introduced.

The All India Airport User's Forum (AIAUF) is planning to start an intensive campaign against the proposed move to re-introduce the users' fee at Kochi International Airport.

"Collecting exorbitant amounts in the name of an airport users' fee at a time when the expatriates are going through unprecedented hardships in the form of increased living costs in the Gulf countries is quite unjustifiable," said Rafeeq Eroth, General Secretary of AIAUF.

The users' fee was scrapped after a prolonged legal fight and protests by expatriate Indian organisations in January 2006.