20.6.17

Departure Forms scrapped at Airports

Indian flyers headed for foreign destinations will not be required to fill up departure cards starting July 1, which means one formality less before boarding the aircraft. However, those travelling out of the country via rail, sea ports and land immigration check-posts will have to fill the embarkation card.

The departure card contains passenger details such as name, date of birth, passport number, address in India, flight number and date of boarding.

The requirement for Indians to fill up arrival cards upon their return from abroad was done away with in 2014.

These steps are among several taken of late to facilitate both international and domestic travel. Last year, the customs department did away with the need for Indian passengers to fill up a declaration form while coming to India if they were not carrying dutiable goods.However, those carrying prohibited and dutiable goods are still required to fill up an `Indian customs declaration form'.

The Central Industrial Security Force, mandated to secure airports in the country, has also started doing away with the practice of tagging and stamping of domestic passengers' hand baggage.

The practice has already been done away with at Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

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