Excess luggage of Mauritian President stopped at Varanasi airport by ground staff, Given clearance by higher authorities

 

Varanasi: An awkward situation occurred for a while for the local authorities on Friday when the excess luggage of Mauritius President Prithvirajsing Roopun were stopped to board the Delhi bound Air India flight by the airline staff at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport.

However, the matter was resolved immediately after the intervention of district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma and senior authorities of airport and AI, and the luggage were given clearance without any extra charge.

The Mauritian president along with a six-member group had visited the temple town. Though he was on a personal visit, being a head of the nation, he was welcomed by the local administration at the airport. During his two-day stay, he attended Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat and also visited Sarnath.

The AI manager at the airport Atif Idris clarified that since allowing excess luggage was beyond his capacity, he intimated the higher authorities for clearance. “There was no issue of stopping the luggage, it was just a routine process for the clearance of extra luggage,” he said.