New Delhi: Indians flying abroad will not be required to fill departure cards from next month. However, those going out of the country via rail, seaport and land immigration checkposts will have to fill the embarkation card.

“It has been decided to discontinue the practice of filling up of the departure card by Indians at all international airports with effect from 1 July, 2017," an order issued by the Union home ministry said. The move is aimed at ensuring hassle-free movement of Indians going abroad. At present, those going abroad need to fill in details such as name, date of birth, passport number, address in India, flight number and date of boarding in the departure card.

“The same information (about the passengers) is available in the system from other sources," the home ministry order said, citing reasons behind its move. The decision will help reducing the time required to complete immigration related formalities by passengers and also enable airports and authorities concerned to cater to a larger number of people.

The need for Indians to fill such cards on their arrival in India has already been done away with. Authorities here have been taking a number of steps to help both international and domestic passengers. The customs department had last year done away with the need for Indian passengers to fill up a declaration form while coming to India if they were not carrying dutiable goods.

Those carrying prohibited and dutiable goods are required to fill up an ‘Indian Customs Declaration Form’, earlier mandatory for all passengers entering the country. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), mandated to secure civil airports in the country, has also started doing away with the practice of tagging and stamping domestic passengers’ hand baggage.

It has ended at Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, some of the country’s busiest airports. PTI

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