Passengers fume over checking of cars at Surat airport

Surat: For city police, Surat airport seems to have become the most sensitive place from security point of view. While you may not find checking of cars at any other airports across the country, police regularly examine them at the main entry gate on Surat-Dumas Road.
Passengers boarding various flights from Surat airport face gruelling exercise of car checking, which results in serpentine queues. On daily basis, most passengers report late for departures and many even miss their flights.
Sundar Jaggan, who was travelling to New Delhi in the morning flight, told TOI, “It took more than 20 minutes from the entry gate to reach the departure area. The boarding had already started.”
Vahab Belim, who travelled to Sharjah for Haj recently, said, “I missed my flight to Mumbai due to long queue at the entry gate. I requested policemen to hasten the checking but in vain.”
The airport has 1.5 lakh passenger footfalls daily with nearly 27 flights.
Airport police said they are following instructions of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Rajesh Modi, a frequent flyer, said, “I have been travelling to domestic and international destinations, but have never seen checking of cars by the police at the entry gate. The baggage carried by the passengers is subject to X-Ray scanning before loading into the aircraft and that all the passengers have to pass from security checks at the airport.”
A senior airport officer said, “Security arrangements are with city police and we are not supposed to interfere in their work.”
Despite repeated attempts, airport police inspector RM Sarode was not available for comments.