Flyers to get info on items allowed in hand baggage
PASSENGERFRIENDLY CISF said they are taking various steps to reduce the waiting time at the security check and reduce chaos
To reduce chaos at the security check at the Delhi airport — the busiest in the country — the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has decided to inform passengers about the restricted items in the hand baggage.
Additional CISF personnel have been deployed near the check-in counters and announcements are being made to tell passengers not to carry the banned items (scissors, lighter and liquid beyond 100ml) in the hand baggage.
If passengers have any doubt on an item they are carrying, they are asked to keep it in the check-in baggage to avoid extra checking during screening.
Till now at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), display boards listing the restricted items are kept just before the security check.
“The passengers, however, are not able to remove the restricted items they are carrying as they have already checked in their luggage and are left with no option but to throw them. To avoid that, we have started informing passengers at the check-in counter itself,” CISF’s director general OP Singh said, adding, “When we conducted a
NEWDELHI:
feedback survey in October last year, in the suggestions column, many passengers wrote about the lack of information on restricted items.”
Of the 3.3 lakh passengers, who responded to CISF’s survey at eight different airports, a majority of them had said that there should be proper information on the items they were allowed to carry in the hand baggage.
Apart from lighters, scissors, and metal items with pointed tips, realistic replica of a toy weapon is not allowed in the hand baggage. However, these can be carried in the check-in luggage of the passengers. Ideally, the airline should inform the passengers at the time of check-in but due to rush, they often don’t brief the passengers.
“Most of the time it is either a lighter or personal use items like shampoo or moisturiser, that exceed the permissible limit of 100ml. We often have long arguments over this and queue at the security check gets longer and chaotic,” said a CISF officer at the airport.
CISF said that they are taking various initiatives to reduce the waiting time at the security check, as it was the biggest concern raised by the passengers in the feedback survey.