Customs makes filling declaration form optional at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: Running out of space to keep 25,000 declaration forms it collects every day, the customs department has asked airlines to tell passengers it is not mandatory to fill it.

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The customs said fliers from abroad should fill the forms only if they want to declare anything or are carrying prohibited items.

The department has decided to revisit its two-year-old order of asking passengers to submit a declaration before leaving Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). 25,000 passengers arrive at the airport every day.

“We realised there is no sense in asking every passenger to fill the form even if they don’t have anything to declare. It is impossible to scan each form. We often use the form as evidence against smugglers ,” said a customs official.

In 2014, the customs department prepared a detailed declaration form a passenger is required to submit after arriving at the Delhi airport.

The form has 21 questions. The old form had only four. The department made some changes to the form and added drones in the prohibited items’ list.

Apart from asking basic queries such as countries they visited in last six days to the total value of goods being imported, the customs department added nine more questions.

“In those questions, a passenger has to declare if he/she is carrying gold jewellery, gold bar, meat products, satellite phone and Indian or foreign currency,” the official added.

A female passenger who has stayed outside India for six months is allowed to carry gold worth Rs 1 lakh. For male passengers, the limit is Rs 50, 000.