The Customs Preventive Commissionerate (CPC) here secured clearance of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) for setting up its unit at the Gannavaram airport. It is now awaiting the nod of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The CPC has already written to the AAI listing its requirements for the purpose. It even got 32 officers trained at Shamshabad to man the unit. It is now up to the AAI to speed up things as the airport is gearing up to handle more flights and wide-bodied aircraft in the near future.
A CPC team recently met Gannavaram airport director M. Raj Kishore and furnished to him a copy of the layout that was approved by the BCAS. They asked Mr. Kishore to expedite arrangements for establishment of the customs unit.
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CPC officials requested the provision of separate arrival and departure points for domestic and international travellers, metal detectors, two X-ray scanning machines (one for hand/cabin baggage and the other for passenger checked-in baggage), bank and currency exchange counters in the international arrivals area, space for storing cargo and examining them and rooms for detained/seized goods and frisking of women passengers.
According to official sources, CPC suggested to the AAI to gear up to handle one or two international flights per day compared to 20 at Shamshabad and for a possible increase in operation of flights that require deployment of additional customs personnel.
It is proposed to operate international flights between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. while domestic services will be operated from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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