If you lost it, you will find it at Kempegowda International Airport

Bengaluru: When you lose a valuable at an airport, you might as well give up the hope of every seeing it again. But this is not the case with the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), as the Lost and Found Department here is most active and has received wide appreciation from passengers, who have managed to get back their misplaced items.

The Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which manages KIA, stated that they received 20,413 articles during FY2017-18, and they were either forgotten at various parts of the airport or were surrendered to CISF as they were under the ban list.

Of the total, 5,686 were handed over to original owners, while 7,153 items – mostly perishables – were disposed of. Articles that remain unclaimed for 90 days are either given to charity or auctioned to the staff on the BLR Airport campus.

Electronic gadgets and government-issued documents are retained for three months from the date of receipt. After the retention period, government documents are returned to the respective departments. Indian passports are shipped to the Regional Passport Office, while foreign passports are sent to the respective embassies after a 30 day-retention period. Bank documents such as credit/debit cards, cheque books and pass books are disposed of after 72 hours, while perishables such as food are disposed of in 24 hours.

Electronic items accounted for 2,492 units including 594 general items, 485 watches/pens, 367 mobile phones and accessories, 37 laptops, 29 tabs/iPads and seven cameras. Other items included bags, apparel, medical accessories, kitchen appliances, travel accessories, sunglasses, tools and toys.