Kazi Wahidul Alam, the editor of The Bangladesh Monitor, has been working with aviation sector for long. He suggested adopting single command to stop harassment of passengers in Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
He on Sunday told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “In HSIA, 25 agencies including immigration, customs are working, in addition to people of various airlines. They’re working under the control of their respective organizations. People from one organization don’t follow the direction of other organizations and working on their own choices. This kind of process isn’t visible anywhere in the world. In all other counties, people of all agencies work under one single authority.”
The Bangladesh Monitor editor said, “He also said that there is no single authority system in Bangladesh. There does not appear to be any intention to implement this method. That is why passenger harassment isn’t over yet. To stop this passenger harassment, a single authority should be established at Shahjalal Airport. There is no other alternative. People from 25 agencies will have to be accountable to a single authority. Only then it will be possible to stop passenger harassment.”
Kazi Wahidul Alam also said, “When a foreigner enters Bangladesh, the first thing he encounters is the immigration police. If the airport is a mirror of the country, then the main component of that mirror is the immigration police. However, the behavior of the police is not friendly at times.”
He said since the police are not efficient, it takes a lot of time to complete the immigration process. For this, emphasis should be placed on skill development. Police should be given special training and awareness on tourist friendly behavior.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
