Times of India: New Delhi: Monday, 07 July 2014.
Huge volumes
of smuggled goods-mainly gold and red sandalwood-may be passing daily through
IGI airport undetected. With the customs department deploying less number of
officials than what it used to four years ago and the footfall increasing
steadily, it's likely that both detection and seizure of smuggled goods have
taken a hit.
According to
an RTI reply, during the inauguration of Terminal 3 in 2010, customs decided to
deploy 316 officials for an estimated 3 crore passengers. However, the
deployment never crossed 243 officials that year. Since then the working
strength has dropped and stood at 227 at the end of 2013.
No gold or
red sandalwood smuggling was reported in 2010. But in 2013, a less-strong
customs team handled 3.6 crore passengers and reported 310 cases of gold and
171 cases of sandalwood smuggling.
The
department also doesn't have enough equipment. Besides the mandatory X-ray
machines and the door-frame metal detectors, which belong to airport operator
DIAL, the customs department has just four handheld detectors. With the volume
of smuggled gold going up, officials even have to stay back after duty hours to
carry out probe, file paperwork and complete formalities with other agencies,
said sources. Easy access of the IGI staff into and out of the airport also
complicates their job, the sources added.
According to the
RTI reply, by the end of 2013 even within the sanctioned strength, many posts
are lying vacant, including those at the level of additional deputy
commissioners, joint commissioners and additional commissioners.
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