diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 8efa62d23cbad15fb8e1de1c469a5945e1740079..b9b796efb9cf3a70014cf344363e93d5899ddd95 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ job1:
    - echo $NFS_TEST_RESULTS_DIR
    - echo $EXTERNAL_SHARE_RESULTS_DIR
    - mkdir -p $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/log
-   - python $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py -c -5GRepoHeadVersion $git_head -n $NFS_SHARE_DIR -u $OAI_USER -p $OAI_PASS >& $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest_cleanup.log
-   - python $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py -r -5GRepoHeadVersion $git_head -n $NFS_SHARE_DIR -u $OAI_USER -p $OAI_PASS `echo $OAI_EXTRA_ARGS` -g $OAI_TEST_CASE_GROUP >& $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest.log
+   - python $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py -c -5GRepoHeadVersion $git_head -n $NFS_SHARE_DIR -u $OAI_USER -p $OAI_PASS  $OAI_EXTRA_ARGS -g "$OAI_TEST_CASE_GROUP">& $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest_cleanup.log
+   - python $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py -r -5GRepoHeadVersion $git_head -n $NFS_SHARE_DIR -u $OAI_USER -p $OAI_PASS `echo $OAI_EXTRA_ARGS` -g "$OAI_TEST_CASE_GROUP" >& $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest.log
    - mv $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest.log $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/log/python_autotest.log
    - mv $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/python_autotest_cleanup.log $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/log/python_autotest_cleanup.log
    - sshpass -p "$OAI_PASS" rsync -az -e "ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no "  --rsync-path="mkdir -p $NFS_TEST_RESULTS_DIR && rsync" $OPENAIR_DIR/cmake_targets/autotests/log $OAI_USER@localhost:$NFS_TEST_RESULTS_DIR
diff --git a/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py b/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py
index cd0441ef7bbce8e3d4a3e6e8c441d4a4b28fd893..2662d7a451ccd7cc6bd5db59cc4c86e719cce3b6 100755
--- a/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py
+++ b/cmake_targets/autotests/run_exec_lte-softmodem_tests.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ sys.path.append('/opt/ssh')
 
 import ssh
 from ssh import SSHSession
+import argparse
 
 # \brief write a string to a file
 # \param filename name of file
@@ -1016,14 +1017,20 @@ locallogdir = openairdir_local + '/cmake_targets/autotests/log'
 MachineList = ''
 MachineListGeneric=''
 flag_remove_logdir=False
-i=1
+flag_start_testcase=False
+
 
 print "Number of arguments argc = " + str(len(sys.argv))
+for index in range(1,len(sys.argv) ):
+  print "argv_" + str(index) + " : " + sys.argv[index]
 
+i=1
 while i < len (sys.argv):
     arg=sys.argv[i]
     if arg == '-r':
-        flag_remove_logdir=True 
+        flag_remove_logdir=True
+    elif arg == '-s' :
+        flag_start_testcase=True
     elif arg == '-g' :
         testcasegroup = sys.argv[i+1].replace("\"","")
         i = i +1   
@@ -1064,6 +1071,7 @@ while i < len (sys.argv):
         MachineListGeneric = MachineListGeneric.replace("\'","")
         i = i +1
     elif arg == '-h' :
+        print "-s:  This flag *MUST* be set to start the test cases"
         print "-r:  Remove the log directory in autotests"
         print "-g:  Run test cases in a group"
         print "-c:  Run cleanup scripts on remote machines and exit"
@@ -1102,7 +1110,9 @@ print "Killing zombie ssh sessions from earlier sessions..."
 cmd='ps aux |grep \"/usr/bin/ssh -q -l guptar\"|tr -s \" \" :|cut -f 2 -d :|xargs kill -9 '
 os.system(cmd)
 
-
+if flag_start_testcase == False:
+  print "You need to start the testcase by passing option -s. Use -h to see all options. Aborting now..."
+  sys.exit(1)
 
 # get the oai object
 host = os.uname()[1]