NEW DELHI: A passenger travelling from Guwahati airport on Thursday raised questions online on the price of waterbottles at airports after he was sold a 500ml bottle for Rs 40. Tagging both the Union minister for civil aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju and minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha on Twitter, the passenger Rishi Bagree, while tweeting the invoice slip of the bottle said, “Passengers are forced to pay an atrocious price for water.”
The tweet has prompted immediate action from Sinha who tagged the Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore airport twitter handles, inquiring about the prices of bottled water available. “What price is water from the vending machines? @Delhi_Airport @CSIAMumbai @BLRAirport please note,” the minister tweeted soon after.
The Delhi airport twitter handle since then has responded to the queries of the minister, replying that vending machines at the IGI airport were providing bottled water for Rs 10. Officials also claim this is the cheapest rate at any airport across the country, with most settling their MRP at Rs 30 to Rs 40.
“There are currently over 150 such vending machines at the airport, each selling a 500ml bottle of water at Rs 10. Our social media team responded to the tweet of the minister immediately and in terms of MRP, our prices are amongst the lowest,” said an airport official. He added that the Pepsi vending machines are available at both T3 and T1 and have been placed at easily accessible points for the convenience of travellers.
Last year, the consumer affairs department in its advisory to states had said that all packaged items, not just bottled water, should be of the same MRP at airports, shops and multiplexes. With cases of high pricing reported from several airports, the ministry has been looking to keep a tab of prices of items, especially bottled water.
