Indira Canteens planned outside Kempegowda International Airport

BENGALURU: With thousands of cabs plying to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) every day, the Transport Department has proposed setting up Indira Canteens outside the airport and closeby.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who met members of the Karnataka State Private Transporters’ Federation on Monday, agreed to the drivers’ demand and it is planned to have 2-3 Indira Canteens on the airport premises or nearby for the benefit of cab drivers.

Transport minister Ramalinga Reddy at the meeting with the private transporters’ federation on Monday.

However, it will depend on how much land the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which runs KIA, will spare for the Indira Canteen. “Apart from thousands of taxi drivers, there is no place where people who drop off their relatives of friends at the airport to get sometjing to eat at affordable prices. I will speak to BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath to set up 2-3 Indira Canteens outside the airport and I will also write to the BBMP”, Reddy said.

The Indira Canteen had been one of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s pet schemes in the previous Congress government. The canteens were also shut during the tenure of the previous BJP government and the present Congress government is keen to revive them.