Customs - Baggage - Mr. Chairman, Where to get information? Departmental Websites are horribly inadequate
AN Indian or for that matter a foreigner planning to visit India would certainly like to get information on the Customs procedures at the airports. Where can he get information from? The Survey finds that only 17% of the passengers were found to be accessing Indian Customs website for information, while the rest relied on various other sources, which may not be fully authentic and reliable. The Chairman should be happy that only 17% relied on his website. The Indian Customs website or the websites of the Air Customs give as accurate information as those socialites in the party I attended.
CBEC Website: On the CBEC website, where can you get information for the passengers coming to India? I asked several Customs officers, who were not able to help me. There is a link for Travellers Guide and that takes you to a page which says,
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.HOW long should the passenger wait for the CBEC Web page to be constructed?
Mobile app for Baggage Rules: Not many, even within the department are aware that there is a mobile app by CBEC for baggage rules available in Google Play. I downloaded the app and the Baggage Rules given there are just ten years behind schedule. They have given the Baggage Rules, 1998 as amended in 2006. They seem to be ignorant about the Baggage Rules, 2016!
The Bangalore Customs website also gives the 1998 Rules.
Mumbai Airport Customs website: This site gives some startling information:
Duty free allowance is Rs. 35,000/-; Jewellery free allowance for men is Rs. 10,000 and for women Rs.20,000/-. This site also allows 200 cigarettes. Elsewhere in the site, the duty free allowance is Rs. 45,000/-.
Several other websites of the Air Customs in cities like Delhi do not open or do not show anything about baggage information. And some give a link to CBEC which also does not open.
The CBEC Chairman should perhaps think of advising his officers to update their websites with the latest on baggage.