Baggage tag stamping at six airports to end

flying out of Chennai, Patna, Guwahati, Trivandrum, Jaipur and Lucknow airports will not have to get tags on their hand baggage stamped from June 1.

After a week-long trial in April where Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was able to check 8 to 10 more bags in every 10 minutes without stamping , the force has decided to permanently do away with the process.

“Our analysis showed that during peak hours, we were able to scan 8 to 10 more baggage if there was no stamping. The trial run was successful, so we have decided to implement it from June 1,” said OP Singh, DG, CISF.

At Chennai airport, when stamping was in place, CISF was able to scan 50 baggages every 10 minutes, which increased to 60 after the stamping procedure was removed. At other airports also, time was saved when stamping was removed.

In December, the CISF had started trial runs at seven metro airports. After the trial, stamping was removed from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad and Cochin airports. “In the third phase, we have selected Pune, Goa, Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapatnam and Varanasi airport. The trial run will be conducted there, which will be followed by permanent implementation. More airports will be made stamp-free in subsequent phases,” Singh added.

China on Monday asked India to be “cautious” and exercise “restraint” over building infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh, days after Prime Narendra Modi launched the country’s longest bridge linking Assam with the state claimed by Beijing.

“We hope India adopts a cautious and restrained attitude on the issue before the final settlement of the border issue with China to jointly control disputes, safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

“China’s position on the eastern section of the Sino-Indian border areas is consistent and clear,” a statement in Chinese said. PM last week opened India’s longest bridge over Brahmaputra river that connects Assam’s easternmost region with Arunachal Pradesh. “China and India should resolve territorial disputes through negotiations and consultations between the two countries,” the Foreign Ministry said. China and India have a dragging border dispute. The 9.2 km Dhola-Sadiya bridge will cut the distance and travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by 165 km and five hours.