ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority retracted on Sunday its decision to make plastic wrapped luggage compulsory at all airports in Pakistan. The policy was withdrawn after it received criticism from passengers, politicians and environmentalists.
People criticized the policy, suggesting it had been introduced to enrich an unnamed company tasked with the wrapping.
“What is the logic for this requirement …if this isn’t legalized corruption,” one angry traveller tweeted. Asif Nawaz Shah, another social media critic, called the new policy a “corrupt profit-making endeavour”.
Others suggested the quantity of plastic needed was wasteful. Ayesha Tammy Haq, a lawyer and broadcast journalist, asked Minister of Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and Prime Minister Imran Khan to withdraw the notification.
Senior PTI leader Jehangir Tareen also tweeted that the “illogical notification issued by the CAA” should be withdrawn. The notification was called “absurd” by Aslam, who thanked the CAA for taking back its decision.
Minister of Human Rights Shireen Mazari also tweeted that the notification is wrong and that it was never discussed in the cabinet. She added that there would be an inquiry to investigate who let the CAA issue the notification.
All check-in baggage of international and domestic passengers is to be wrapped with plastic sheets at the initial stage of scanning at search counters of the ASF, ANF and Customs, said a notification issued on Thursday.
Shahrukh Nusrat, director general of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said Saturday that wrapping baggage was now “mandatory”, and it was being done for “safety” purposes. Passengers would have to pay Rs50 per bag for the wrapping, Nusrat said in a statement.
