Delay in clearance irks flyers at Amritsar airport

Amritsar, December 20

Passengers alighting from the international flights at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport have complained of long time in getting their baggage cleared these days.

They claim that not only there is no separate line for flyers coming out of different flights, but the aged and physically challenged passengers also have to stand in long queues as well.

Bunching of flight arrivals behind rush

The increase in the waiting time for passengers is due to bunching of flight arrivals. Our objective is that a passenger should be free from all kinds of checks in half an hour. Vipin Kant Seth, Airport Director

Lack of coordination and management lead to mayhem and jostling among passengers in the arrival lounge, the flyers say.

Sources said the airport staff had been given strict instructions for thorough checking of the belongings of passengers coming from Sharjah and Qatar as repeated instances of smuggled gold were reported.

“This has increased the average waiting time for clearance of baggage of passengers to over an hour,” sources said.

Passengers flying from destinations other than Sharjah and Qatar have sought separate queues for arriving international flights.

Sameep Singh, a passenger, said he arrived from the US via the Sharjah Airport with a halt in the UAE on Sunday night. “All passengers coming via Sharjah were put under check by the Customs. The problem accentuated as over 300 passengers alighted from the flight from Kuala Lumpur,” he added.

In an email message to Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Singh said it took several hours to clear the rush as there was no provision for separate queues. “Since there was only one scanner, all kinds of passengers —aged, handicapped, men and women — were made to stand for long hours,” he said.

Another passenger Ramanpreet Singh, who also arrived from the US, had travelled from California to Amritsar via Doha. “It was surprising that every passenger’s bag was scanned by customs. We prefer to travel via the Amritsar airport and it was discouraging to experience this mayhem. This is the reason why a majority of the passengers prefer the Delhi airport,” he said.

Vipin Kant Seth, airport director, attributed the increase in waiting time for passengers to bunching of flight arrivals. He said a meeting was held today regarding this matter, in which the Customs officials, officials of various airlines and ground staff participated.