The Civil Aviation Ministry today decided to do away with security stamp on hand baggage tags at seven airports but the move appeared to have run into rough weather with CISF opposing its immediate execution.
In a circular today, civil aviation security regulator BCAS said the system of putting security stamp on hand baggage tags would be immediately done away with at seven airports -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Cochin.
However, officials at CISF, which secures most of the airports, said the force may not be able to undertake the directive on an "immediate basis".
"A trial run was conducted by the CISF at few airports to see if hand baggage tags could be done away with. The trial was found to be successful but a feedback was drawn which required deployment of requisite security gadgets, CCTVs and smart cameras in the airports terminal before such an initiative can take off.
"Such infrastructure deployment is yet not complete at many airports, including some large ones," a senior CISF official said.
Last year, the authorities had started trial run with respect to doing away with security stamp on hand baggage tags at these seven airports.
BCAS said it is pertinent to mention that the trial run for the same has already been successfully conducted in two phases after putting in place the requisite surveillance and monitoring system.
About the circular, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said, "We expect considerable improvement in security check time and passenger experience with this change".
A Civil Aviation Ministry official said the circular would be applicable for domestic as well as international passengers.
BCAS has also said that airport operator shall ensure that the requisite monitoring system is maintained all through at PESC (Pre-embarkation Security Check) points.
While BCAS said the circular would be effective immediately, CISF officials said that during a meeting of aviation regulators, airport operators and the CISF, it was decided that such measures should be deployed by March 31 so that all airports can be brought under the new initiative.
Moreover, CISF is yet to receive an official copy of the circular, they added.
(REOPEN DEL81)
Amber Dubey, Partner and Head of Aerospace and Defence at global consultancy KPMG, said the BCAS decision is a good move which was long overdue.
"India is one of the very few countries that have the stamping concept. It adds no value other than wasting time and effort," he said.
Further, Dubey said that stamping of boarding passes too need to stop.
"Once we move towards Aadhaar as Boarding Card (ABC), high definition CCTVs, facial recognition systems etc, every passenger will be tracked in every corner of the airport. There would be no paper to stamp on," he added.
