Incidents of luggage missing at HSIA on rise

The number of luggage-missing incidents from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) has gone up alarmingly in recent times, causing frustrations and sufferings among air passengers, sources said.
Mishandling of luggage causing harassment to inbound-passengers has become almost a regular phenomenon at the country's main airport.
Everyday more than 100 incoming passengers leave the airport without their luggage. Of them 70 per cent lodge complaints at the lost and found section of several airline companies at the airport, the sources said.  
A number of high officials of air carrier companies including local and foreign ones told the FE that luggage missing is increasing but the authorities concerned haven't taken any steps to check the menace.
During a visit to the airport recently, the FE found in last three months more than 9,000 passengers who came from abroad including the Middle East lodged complaints with several airline companies for losing their luggage.
Currently, everyday around 27 airline companies including the national flag carrier have been handling some 10,000 passengers at the HSIA.
According to the Bangladesh Biman data, more than 4.0 million local and international passengers are handled annually at the HSIA.
Abul Mansur Md Faizullah, who flew home recently through a foreign airline, said his luggage was missing.
He said, "I had waited for three hours only to learn from the ground handling crew that my luggage was missing".
He went to the local office of the airline at the airport, but their staff, who attended to him, extended no help and even did not give any instruction about what to do, he alleged.
"It's true everyday on an average 100 passengers of several airlines lose their luggage which is causing a matter of serious pain to the air passengers", an official of Bangladesh Biman told the FE.
He said the passengers who lose their luggage leave the airport everyday without the baggage.
The Bangladesh Biman authorities pointed out a number of reasons for the problem.
Now the Ground Handling Department of Bangladesh Biman handles the entire luggage loading and unloading of the incoming and outgoing passengers manually.
A customs official told the FE recently she lost her luggage and had to knock on many doors to finally reach the lost and found counter at the airport to lodge a complaint.
When she complained to the lost and found desk at the airport, they said that they would contact her if they could trace the luggage and she had to leave the airport without her luggage, she added.
Mishandling and tampering of luggage is on the rise although personnel of the Armed Police Battalion, Ansars, civil aviation security and Biman security have been keeping watch while luggage unloading from craft since 2001.
An official of a foreign airline told the FE that the lone international airport in Dhaka still uses primitive procedures and equipment for baggage handling which contribute to the mishandling and tampering of luggage.