Kamruzzaman Bablu :In recent time, luggage missing incidents at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) have gone up alarmingly. On an average, more than 100 arrival passengers lose their baggage and leave the airport with tears rolling down their cheeks, sources said. Luggage missing has been almost a regular phenomenon at the country’s main airport. When complaints are lodged, the administration pays lip service only, and, as a result, very few of the complainants get back their baggage.A reliable source said, a good number of high officials of home and foreign airliners have said that luggage missing is increasing. Everyday more than 100 luggage disappear from HSIA. Of them, 70 per cent passengers lodge complaints. Some of them get back their baggage, while some others wail and weep. Passenger Nurul Amin, who arrived by Air Asia on Monday told The New Nation on Tuesday that he waited for four hours for his missing luggage. An immigration officer told me to give some more time. Then after another two hours the said officer advised me to contact latter.””Till now I did not get back my luggage. Now how much time I will be waiting for my luggage?” he asked.Another passenger named Main Uddin, alleged that his luggage was missing. “I flew home recently by a foreign airlines. After waiting for three hours, the ground handling crew told me that my luggage was missing.” I went to the local office of the airlines at the airport, but their staff, who attended me, could not help me to get back the luggage.Sources said, in last three months more than 9,000 passengers who came from abroad lodged complaints with several airline companies after losing their luggage. At present, around 27 airline companies including the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines have been handling some 10,000 passengers every day at the HSIA.According to the Bangladesh Biman data, more than 4.0 million local and international passengers are handled annually.On condition of anonymity, a Bangladesh Biman official told The New Nation on Wednesday, “It is true that everyday on an average 100 passengers of several airlines lose their luggage which is a matter of serious concern to the air passengers.”But the Bangladesh Biman authorities identified several reasons for the problem. Now the Ground Handling Department of Bangladesh Biman handles the entire luggage, loading and unloading, of the arrival and overseas passengers manually, he added.When contacted, Group Captain M K Zakir Hassan and Director of HSIA did not receive telephone.
