The CISF today said it proposes to do away with the practice of tagging and stamping of hand baggage at all the 59 airports in the country that are under its security cover from next year.
A new system of doing away with stamping of hand baggage tags was introduced a couple of months back at 13 airports in the country.
"Couple of months back, we introduced a new system by way of which we have done away with stamping of hand baggage tags at 13 airports. After August 15 (this year) we are going to introduce the trial run at six more airports," said OP Singh, Director General of CISF.
He added, "By end of this year we propose that all the 59 airports which are under the CISF cover will dispense with the system."
Singh was in the city to formally launch India's first 'Express Security Check' facility at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport being managed by the GMR Group here.
Under the new facility, domestic passengers (without check-in baggage) after printing their boarding pass from the newly installed self service kiosks located at departures forecourt area outside the terminal building, can now enter the 'Express Security Check' lane without getting into the check-in area and head straight towards the boarding area.
Singh blamed the airlines for "bunching" of flights during the peak hours and advised them to upgrade their infrastructure to meet the growing demand.
He said almost all airports in the country are exponentially growing in terms of number of passengers.
"During the last two to three years there has been a growth of 20 per cent. In 2016 we handled almost 13 crore passengers (from all airports)," he said.
Replying to a query, he said the CISF has to get considerable dues from many airports in the country and has written a letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in that regard.
SGK Kishore, CEO of GMR Hyderabad International Airport said they are in process of expanding the airport to meet the growing demand.
"We will be doubling the capacity of the airport. In the next couple of years, we will ensure that the new expanded facility will be available for passengers. The new facility will have all the latest technologies," Kishore said.
According to Kishore, the Hyderabad International Airport is expected to handle about 18 million passengers this year.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
