The office of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) inside Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi has been removed to create space for additional security lines amid complaints of congestion and chaos at the airport, said a report. By December 28, airport authorities plan to operate 20 additional security lines, CNN-News18 reported quoting sources. Stakeholders have also proposed building an immigration infrastructure roadmap to bring down congestion at the international airport side.
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The move comes when a high-level meeting on the Delhi airport rush is being conducted by the ministry of home affairs (MHA). The meeting was attended by the civil aviation secretary, senior officers of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the director general of CISF, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, chairman of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), senior officers of the immigration department and other officers of MHA. It was chaired by Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
Hundreds of passengers have complained of overcrowding and congestion at the airport Terminal 3 in the past few days. Some have even claimed to have missed their flight despite reaching way ahead of time. In view of the delay, a number of airlines have requested passengers to arrive 3.5 hours ahead of their flights.
Meanwhile, the home ministry is likely to deploy additional 1,200 personnel from the CISF to mitigate congestion, NDTV reported. The decision will be taken at the meeting today. This is in addition to over 5,000 personnel who are already deployed in the airport to ensure faster security checks and ease the holiday season rush.
At the same time, measures such as the installation of display boards at each entry point and sharing of live updates about entry points and flights on social media have reduced the confusion and chaos at the airport, Indian Express reported. The number of entry gates has been increased from 14 to 16 and all gates are manned by additional staff, ushers and display boards to help the passengers.
“We have also started posting live updates on Delhi Airport Twitter and other social media platforms to help passengers choose the right entry,” Indian Express quoted an official as saying.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
