PUNE: Administrative wrangling, official apathy, an absent customs commissioner at Delhi’s
Indira Gandhi International Airport and general ignorance about shooting led to over 15 international
Indian shooters being held up for almost 13 hours on Tuesday.
Olympic shooters Gurpreet Singh and Kynan Chenai, along with some 15 other colleagues, landed in the capital early in the morning after participating in the Plzen Shooting Grand Prix (in Czech Republic) and shotgun World Cup in Cyprus, respectively.
They found themselves in a fix as the customs department did not clear their guns till 4.50pm. “We landed at 4am after a 20-hour flight and the department didn’t clear our weapons, saying we would have to wait for the customs commissioner. He was supposed to arrive at 10am but didn’t and we didn’t get any clarity from other officials,” said a shooter who didn’t wish to be named.
Despite the shooters informing the authorities that they had the requisite export documents, which had been signed and stamped by customs when they left for Plzen, the equipment was not released. “When we went to Plzen, the same department had issued us letters with their stamp and serial numbers of our guns. We have the same guns and the letters. We don’t have even a screw extra, but they don’t trust their own letters,” added the shooter.
Sources in customs denied that the shooters were detained, but said the weapons had to be cleared. They said extra caution was being taken after a few national shooters were recently arrested for smuggling illegal pistols.
When asked about the delay in clearance, additional commissioner at IGIA, Amandeep Singh said they were waiting for the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for the same. “We had to clear some things with the revenue department and hence the delay in clearing the shooters' guns,“ Singh said.
The shooters claimed that an official used foul language and was rude throughout. “We were sleep deprived and hungry .When we told this to the officer there, he said, `You won't die if you skip one meal'.“
Asked about the claim that an officer was rude to the shooters, Singh said, “I got to know this from a few shooters there. I have told my staff to handle them with care.“
A few shooters also missed their connecting flights to different cities due to the delay.“We have a World Cup in Munich, which will start from May 17. Every day counts for us now. Today's day has been wasted and this is going to hurt our preparation,“ the shooter said.
In a series of tweets, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra blamed the National Federation of India for not coming to shooters' rescue. “Saddened to hear that the national shooting team is detained at
IGI airport with the customs refusing to clear their guns,“ he tweeted, adding, “They are our country's ambassadors and should not be treated like this. Would this ever happen to our cricket team?“ “Lack of support ... from the national federation is pathetic. The manager of the shotgun team left this morning leaving the athletes to fend for themselves,“ he tweeted.
When contacted, NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia said, “There are so many limitations when it is about customs. No one can enter the airport from outside, so the best we could do is to communicate with the customs officials. We were constantly in touch with the additional commissioner.“
AIRPORT BLUESJANUARY 2011: Kerala's Elizabeth Koshy's father drove from Kochi to Pune after Jet Airways officials refused to let Elizabeth to carry her rifles with her to the National championships.
SEPTEMBER 2013: Peter Sidi, 50m rifle (3 positions) World Champion, borrowed Gagan Narang's gun in the Gun For Glory in Pune after Mumbai airport customs didn't allow his rifle on board.
APRIL 2015: Jet Airways didn't allow Heena Sidhu (pistol) and Anjali Bhagwat (rifle) to carry their guns from Bangkok to Mumbai because of `incomplete documents' despite travelling from Busan to Bangkok on a Korean airlines with the same documents. They spent the night outside the airport.
FEBRUARY 2017: The Australian and Bangladesh teams were not allowed to board their flights for Delhi's World Cup. According to the NRAI, carrier Jet Airways demanded DGCA permission from the teams and permitted travel after the NRAI sent the permission.