Mangaluru Customs unveils online initiatives for passenger facilitation on Friday

 

Mangaluru, 18 Feb 2017: Chief Commissioner of Customs, Bengaluru Zone, RB Tiwari launched Unaccompanied Baggage Module in Customs EDI on Friday at New Custom House, Panambur, Mangaluru and also inaugarated Online Customs Guide for international passengers at Mangaluru international airport.

 

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has been taking several initiatives for smooth and quick clearance of cargo and baggage and passengers by reducing unwanted paper work. In this direction, in order to further expedite processing of unaccompanied baggage declarations, faster delivery of baggage, further improve transparency in clearance process and also to reduce interface with the department, the unaccompanied baggage module has been launched by the Mangaluru customs.

 

 

Considering the passenger profile at Mangaluru airport wherein about 97.7% of passengers are facilitated through green channel, the need was felt to devise an online customs guide for international passengers in the form of an interactive web page that could be accessed from any device viz. desktop, laptop, smart phone or tab and from anywhere.

 

It was also necessitated considering the number of queries received from passengers about their eligibility of various items. This online guide has been devised to enable any passenger to know his entitlements of various items including gold jewellery, television, liquor, cigarettes and others in an easy, simple and interactive way. The launching event was attended by the airport director, JT Radhakrishna, Dr. M. Subramanyam, Commissioner of Customs, Mangaluru, officials of CISF, Immigration, Airlines and Airport Authority of India.

 

The customs department in order to increase the levels of facilitation has been procuring several state-of-the-art equipment including, baggage scanners. One such advanced scanner was also inaugurated by the Chief Commissioner on Friday at Mangaluru international airport.

 

During the two occasions, the Chief Commissioner highlighted customer feedback survey conducted at Bengaluru airport which has revealed that more than 89% of passengers were satisfied with customs processes. Detailing a mobile app launched for the benefit of international passengers, he added that the same has been translated into regional languages like Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil and that the feedback received evidenced that the passengers have been finding it very useful.